The Friend That Was Lost
by A Scary Man
Summary: COMPLETE (please review!!): Sequel to Through a Child's Eyes, set after X2, using OCs: Magneto and his new recruits plan to unleash a reign of terror upon the human race.
1. Introduction

A/N: this story is the sequel to _Through a Child's Eyes. _It is pretty much essential to read _Through a Child's Eyes _in order to understand the characters and what's going on in this one. To find it, click on my username then 'Stories Authored'. But hey, you all knew that anyway, right? :-)

A/N 2: the first chapter will introduce the characters a little for those of you who can't be bothered reading the first story. The second chapter will be a prologue, written in 3rd person. The main story starts in chapter 3, written in 1st person.

A/N 3: this story will contain X2 spoilers, such as the fact that…oh yeah oops.

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INTRODUCTION TO MAIN CHARACTERS:

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OCULUS

Real name: Neil Rosiçky

Age: 17

Mutant abilities: Telescopic eyesight; X-ray vision; telepathy; telekinesis; berserk attack

History: Born an ordinary human, as a new-born baby Neil was subjected to mutation implant treatment by a ruthless geneticist. As a result he possesses a number of different gifts, and may have more that are still hidden. Neil first discovered his abilities by accident as a pre-teen, and since then has been an outcast from human society. A calm and reasonable person, Neil acknowledges that humanity's fear of mutants is based merely on ignorance and prejudice, and has vowed to bridge the gap between the two. Towards that end, he has joined Professor Xavier's school for mutants with the intention of becoming one of the X-Men. The other main interest in Neil's life is the blossoming relationship between himself and Gaia.

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GAIA

Real name: Chloe Scott

Age: 16

Mutant abilities: Communication with and control of animals.

History: Chloe first displayed her latent ability at a very young age, inadvertently revealing herself as a mutant to her mother and father. Aware of society's hatred of mutants, her parents protected their daughter by hiding her secret, and thus Chloe has never experienced the discrimination and dislike that her friends have had to put up with. Chloe loves animals, refuses to eat or use anything that an animal has been killed to produce, and prefers to use her gift to help and heal, instead of hurt or kill. She has joined the X-Men to try and learn more about herself, her powers, and how to use them to preserve the lives of others.

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SHAPESHIFTER

Real name: Chris Garcia

Age: 16

Mutant abilities: Changing entire body from solid to liquid, and vice versa.

History: Growing up in the slums, from an early age Chris was no stranger to hostility and suffering. A bitter and sarcastic individual, Chris has witnessed first-hand, on many occasions, humanity's fear and hatred of mutants. He believes it is impossible that humans and mutants will ever co-exist together, yet still fights for what he thinks is right. Loyal and fair to those who have earned his trust, while a vengeful and deadly enemy to others, Chris joined the X-Men in the hope that he might be proved wrong. Initially suspicious and mistrustful of Xavier and his intentions, Chris now knows that he is fighting on the side of right.

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PSYCHE

Real name: Jacqueline Cartier

Age: 17

Mutant abilities: Telepathy; telekinesis.

History: Disowned by her mutant-hating parents at the age of 7, Jacqueline has since suffered various mental illnesses, including depression, violent outbursts, and a split personality bordering on schizophrenia. As a telepath, Jacqueline has the ability to contain more than one consciousness inside her own mind, and for years has been haunted by the mental presence of her seven-year old self. Since then, Jacqueline has absorbed at least one other telepath's consciousness, and been driven further and further unbalanced by the pressure of multiple minds living inside her own. Seeking vengeance for her condition, she plunged into the depths of insanity when she murdered her own parents, and has since sworn an undying hatred of all humans. Recruited by Magneto, her whereabouts are currently unknown.

A/N: not a great summary of the four main characters, but you really need to read the first story to get to know them properly. The only thing I've added is the nicknames, three of which are hinted at in the first story.


	2. Prologue

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THE FRIEND THAT WAS LOST

Prologue:

JULY 2003

Three figures, clad in black, slipped through the darkness of the night towards the near-deserted building. It loomed before them, no more than a shadow in the dim light, as the two men and one woman paused before the entrance. The smallest of the three mutants, one of the males, sniffed at the air for a few moments, then said, "We're safe. Nobody's near."

"All right, let's begin," the woman said. "Rat, go."

The small man nodded. Sniffing tentatively at the wind once more, he pulled up the drain covering at their feet, and dropped down into the sewers below.

"I don't understand why we can't just blast the door down," the second man complained, fiddling with his cigarette lighter.

"Because it will set the alarm off," the girl said impatiently. "We can't let anybody know we're here until we are ready to leave. Rat will get the doors open from inside without tripping the alarms."

"I thought we were supposed to be destroying this place!"

"We are, but we can't let ourselves be discovered too early. Shut up and stop asking stupid questions."

Pyro flicked on the lighter, and resisted the temptation to send a ball of flame at her head, "I still don't understand why Magneto put you in charge of this operation. I've been here longer than you have."

Jacqueline Cartier, alias Psyche, didn't make any response. She closed her eyes and used her telepathic power to sense the location of Rat, the smaller mutant.

"He's in," she said. "He climbed up through the sewers, just as we planned. He'll have the door open at any moment. Get ready."

"Any time."

A few moments passed, then the security door was pulled open from inside, and Rat poked his head out, glancing around furtively to make sure nobody was trying to sneak up on them. Sniffing at the night air, he hissed, "Come on."

Psyche and Pyro followed him inside, and Psyche faced the two of them, "OK. You two find as much flammable material as you can. You know where to look: chemistry labs, cleaning supplies, that sort of thing."

"What are you going to be doing?" Pyro demanded.

"I'll be working on Magneto's message, the one he wants us to leave behind. You know, the whole reason why we're doing this?"

"Huh. Whatever. I don't see why you get the easy job."

"Shut up, Pyro. Just get on with it."

He glared at her, and flicked his lighter on once more, gleefully picturing in his mind a huge tongue of flame arcing through the air towards her, but knowing she was too powerful to be destroyed that easily. Rat elbowed him in the side and snapped, "Stop wasting time. Let's get to it."

Psyche heard the two of them hurry off down the corridor, and she set off at a slower pace to one of the classrooms.

An hour later saw them leaving the building, Pyro still moaning about something or another. Psyche wasn't paying any attention. She focused her thoughts on locating Magneto - waiting in the helicopter nearby - and telepathed to him, _We're set. We can destroy it any time you like_.

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Now.

As ordered.

"Pyro, do it," she said.

A twisted smile crossed John Allerdyce's face, and he switched on the lighter again. Lifting his other hand and concentrating hard, he aimed a burst of flame at the entrance to the school. His grin widened as the chemicals he had poured on the corridor inside caught fire, and the blaze began spreading. The three mutants hurried away from the building, and watched from a safe distance as the fire began to consume the entire building. The first of the explosions blasted through the silence of the night, as the flames reached the first of the caches of flammable materials which Rat had placed at strategic points.

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It's done.

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Good, Magneto responded, _if this doesn't get Charles Xavier's attention, nothing will. Mystique is landing the helicopter not far from you. Get on board. _

On our way.

Psyche, Pyro and Rat took one last look at the burning inferno that had once been an elementary school, then turned and ran to meet the chopper.


	3. The Eve of the War

A/N: Now the main story begins. Written from the perspective of Neil Rosiçky aka Oculus.

Chapter One: The Eve of the War

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JULY 2003

Could we have done more to save her? Was it our fault that Jacqueline had lost her mind? Should we have been paying her more attention, trying harder to help her get through her mental problems? She'd disappeared right at the end – should we have searched longer and harder in an attempt to find her? If what the Professor said was right, and she'd joined Magneto, surely that meant she was no longer the person we'd known and loved. Could we bring her back? Could we turn her away from evil? Had she become irreversibly insane and depraved? I didn't know. None of us knew. I knew one thing, however. Jacqueline had been our friend, our leader, had saved our lives countless times, and had been through hell and back with us. Whatever it took, we'd do everything we could to convince her to turn back to our side.

These thoughts tormented me daily, wrapped in heavy swathes of guilt. I, of all people, should have done more to help her. I was the one who'd first used my telepathy to venture into her tortured mind and discover her problems. I should have gone back in and tried to mend the damage, heal the traumas that had ravaged her psyche. I hadn't. Guilt consumed me like a fire, haunting me with the knowledge that if I'd only done a bit more to help her, Jacqueline might have been saved, and might still be among us.

Despite my guilt, the last two months of my life had been the happiest I had ever known. Living at Professor Xavier's school for mutants, I had known acceptance and inclusion for the first time in years. Among my own kind I was no longer feared and hated, and I was learning more and more each day about the special powers with which I had been gifted. I enjoyed spending most of my spare time with my Chloe, my girlfriend, and my best friend Chris. It was a blissful existence. 

That day found me sitting in a quiet, shady spot, with Chloe, in the gardens outside the mansion. I could hear the birds singing and the sound of water trickling through a small stream somewhere behind us. The late afternoon sun was poking its rays through the tall hedge to our left. A warm summer breeze swept around us, playing with Chloe's hair, wafting a smell of freshness and life from our surroundings. Chloe inhaled the scent and smiled. She loved being out here, feeling close to nature, seeing the evidence of its work all around her.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" she said, leaning over to rest against me, putting her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah…"

"What's the matter? You don't sound very happy."

"I'm still thinking about her."

"About Jacqueline?"

"Yeah. I can't help feeling that it's our fault – specifically my fault – that she went the way she did."

Chloe frowned, "I understand what you mean, but I don't think you can say it's your fault. You – we – did all we could to find her. She'd obviously lost her mind by that point, and gone off with the intention of not being found."

"But if we'd just spent a little longer searching…"

"If she didn't want to be found, there's no way we could find her," she said. "She would have sensed us coming after her, and run on ahead."

"I guess you're right. I still feel guilty though."

Chloe didn't say anything, but I sensed there was something on her mind. Projecting my consciousness out towards her, I began to read her thoughts. She was feeling sad, sadness at the absence of Jacqueline, and worried, probably anxious about what had happened to our friend. I also detected something else, something I hadn't been expecting: a tiny pang of jealousy. Was Chloe resentful of the amount of time I was spending thinking about Jacqueline? Chloe and I _were_ in love; I supposed it was only natural that she disliked me thinking about another girl.

I had become quite adept at reading her thoughts and feelings, as well as those of other people. It was a very powerful and useful gift to possess, though I tried to use it as little as possible with people I knew, since it was a gross violation of their privacy. If a person couldn't be alone in their own head with their own thoughts, then nothing was sacred. It was a little different with Chloe, and, to a lesser extent, Chris. Both of them trusted me completely, knowing I would never read their minds frivolously, and thus I allowed myself a little more freedom about entering their thoughts. The three of us had no real secrets from each other, so there was no possibility of me discovering anything that they didn't want me to know. Still, I would never read their minds to play a joke on them, or just for the fun of it. Using our powers irresponsibly was one of the reasons why humans feared us.

I stretched my telepathic senses out towards the mansion and the rest of the estate, trying to see what I might detect. Focusing on this large a space, and with no real idea of where people were, there was no way I could concentrate on an individual person to identify them and read their mind, but I might be able to pick up some basic feelings and emotions. It was something the Professor had been encouraging me to try recently, but so far I could only detect when a person was experiencing a very strong feeling, such as intense anger, deep sadness or true love.

I could sense feelings now, some of them close at hand, but most of them emanating from inside the mansion building. The strongest was coming from Chloe, her feelings for me – warm, caring love – easily detected because she was close at hand. Other than that I could mostly sense…fear. Fear and anxiety, coming from inside the mansion. Strange. I had never felt anything like that before. What could it be fear of? It had to be a strong feeling for me to sense it at this distance, which meant some serious event or threat must be causing it. But what?

Chloe shut her eyes and rested further against me. I put my arm around her. I knew I loved her. I knew I could never like another girl as much as I loved Chloe. I knew she was special to me in a way that nobody else could ever be…but still, I worried about Jacqueline, because she was my friend, and because she was in danger. The others worried about her too: Chloe, Chris, and the Professor and his people.

That got me thinking about the X-Men. It was Chris' goal to become one of them, in the hope of proving himself wrong in his beliefs that humans and mutants could never co-exist in peace. I wasn't sure what to make of Xavier's organisation. I respected what they stood for, and agreed with their goals and aims, but there was still a lot I didn't know. Well, that was why I was here, to learn. At the school we were taught on various different subjects, many of which would be found in any normal school, such as maths, science and languages, as well as sessions specifically designed to help us use and develop our mutant powers. Chloe liked all of our classes. Chris hated anything academic, but enjoyed the more practical aspects of the mutant training lessons. I had always been proficient enough at school subjects, but I found I couldn't really get myself to focus on anything that I found less than interesting. My mind tended to wander (sometimes literally; I was a telepath after all).

I sensed Chris approaching from the other side of the hedge. If he was trying to sneak up on us, he had failed. People usually failed when they tried to sneak up on a telepath.

"Chris?" I said.

He stepped out from behind the row of shrubs, "Oh, there you are. I've been looking all over for you two lovebirds."

I ignored his last remark, "What's up?"

"The Professor wants to see us in his office. Right now, he said."

Chloe opened her eyes and said, "Have we done something wrong?"

"I can't think of anything," said Chris. "I haven't done anything crazy recently. Besides, it's not just us he wants. He wants to see all the staff and senior students."

I raised my eyebrows, "All of us? Sounds like something important has come up. Better not keep him waiting."

Chloe and I stood up and we followed Chris back to the mansion. I wondered why Xavier wanted to see us. All senior students. All five of us: myself, Chloe, Chris, Bobby and Marie. As the oldest students in the school, we occasionally helped out with the teaching of the younger ones, and had some other extra responsibilities. Although we weren't fully-fledged X-Men, the Professor had made it clear to us that he might call upon us in an emergency. Was that what had happened now? Was that why I had sensed an unusual amount of fear a few minutes ago?

It was useless to speculate; we'd find out as soon as we got to Xavier's office. Chris pushed open the door that led into the building and we hurried down the corridor to the Professor's study. As we entered, I saw that everybody else was already there: the Professor, behind the desk; Cyclops, looking as subdued as he always had since Dr Grey had been killed; Storm and Wolverine, glancing up and nodding to us as we came in; and Bobby and Marie, standing together at the side of the room, conversing in low tones. 

"Good, we're all here," said Xavier, as I closed the door behind me. "I'll come straight to the point. We have a situation that requires all of us. Some of you may already have heard on the news what has happened, but for those of you who haven't: some time last night there was a fire in an elementary school less than a hundred miles from here."

"Was anybody hurt?" Storm asked.

"No, there was nobody in the building in the time. But the police have been able to ascertain that the fire was started deliberately. And, it would seem, they have evidence that mutants were involved. As you can imagine, this has caused widespread panic in the surrounding population. A number of riots have started, and several mutants are fleeing for their lives, desperate to avoid any anti-mutant attacks from the rioters. So far, nobody has been hurt, but that may not remain true for long." 

"Do we know who caused the fire?" said Wolverine.

"No," said the Professor. "I don't have to stress to any of you how serious this problem could become. Human-mutant relations are bad enough at the moment without something like this happening. Some humans may even see it as an act of war. Many people's reaction will be to demand a counter-attack against the mutant population. The media are going crazy, pinning this and almost any other crime or accident they can find on mutants. It's only a matter of time before this panic and desire for revenge spreads throughout the rest of the state, followed by the rest of the nation. We have to act now if we want to stop a war from starting."

"So what should we do?" asked Cyclops.

"You and I will go to the White House and speak with the President," Xavier replied. "We must convince him to calm the situation down and find out who is responsible, without allowing any more acts of aggression to occur, before the whole nation declares war on mutants."

"What about the school? Aren't we going to try and find out who set the fire?" asked Wolverine.

"I'm coming to that, Logan. I want you and Storm to go after these mutants who are on the run, and bring them back here where they'll be safe. Take Rogue and Iceman with you; you may need their help."

Marie and Bobby looked at him, then at Wolverine, but didn't say anything. I could sense a mixture of feelings emanating from both of them: excitement and anticipation; fear of what might happen; pride that they had been chosen to join the mission; and concern for each other's safety.

"That leaves three of you," said Xavier, turning to face me. "Oculus, Gaia, Shapeshifter: I want you three to investigate the fire at the school. You've had plenty of experience of acting independently, so I know you'll be able to look after yourselves. Find out anything you can, anything that will lead us to the people who did this. If starting a war is their intention, they will doubtless try something similar again."

I nodded, and felt the excitement growing in my heart. Chris was grinning, both at the prospect of action, and the fact that Xavier was trusting us to go alone. I could sense that Chloe was feeling scared, but at the same time comforted by the fact that Chris and I would be there with her.

"Isn't this a little risky?" Wolverine persisted. "We're leaving the school without anyone to protect the kids. What if some of these people looking for revenge come here?"

"Uh, that did occur to me, Logan," said the Professor with a wry smile. "Nightcrawler is on his way here. He's been back in Germany for the last few weeks, but I contacted him a short while ago and asked that he return. He'll stay and watch over the children. Scott and I will remain here until he arrives, then set off for Washington."

Wolverine shrugged, accepting the decision, but still not looking happy. Not that he ever did.

"When do we leave?" I asked.

"Now," said Xavier. "We can't afford to waste any time."

"We'll take the jet," said Storm. "We have a rough location for the fleeing mutants. Oculus, we'll drop you off on the way. Grab anything you want to take and meet us in the hanger in ten minutes."

"Right."

We headed for the door, and the three of us ran down the corridor and up the stairs to the room we shared.

"Can you believe it?" Chris enthused. "We're actually being sent out on our own! Our first mission and we haven't got anyone along to hold our hands!"

"Why are you so happy about it?" Chloe asked in confusion. "We're only being sent out because a terrible thing could be about to happen. A war might start any day. Thousands of people could be killed!"

Chris shrugged, "Life's no fun if you look at the big picture all the time. I realise the seriousness of the situation, but I'm not going to let myself worry over it. That won't do me any good."

"I wonder who's responsible for it. Starting the fire, I mean," she said thoughtfully.

"I dunno. Somebody who wants to start a war with the humans."

"Magneto?" I said.

"Yeah, could be. I can't understand why Xavier never thought of him," said Chris. 

"I think he probably has," I said. "Maybe he just doesn't want to jump to any conclusions. Magneto and the Professor are actually good friends – or at least they were – in some bizarre way, given that they're also arch-enemies."

"How does that work?" Chloe asked. "A person can't be your friend and your enemy."

"It's more complicated than that," I said. "Xavier and Magneto both have the same thing at heart: protecting the welfare of mutants. They just see very different ways of going about it."

She frowned but said nothing. I returned my attention to packing my few essential belongings into a bag and slinging it over my shoulder. Chris was already at the door holding his bag, "Ready?"

"Let's go."

Two hours later:

I watched as the jet disappeared into the distance and over the horizon. Storm and the others had dropped us off at a secluded spot near the town where the attack had taken place. It seemed like an ordinary American village: peaceful, quiet, surrounded by countryside. Nothing unusual or out of place, nothing to set it apart from any of the thousands of similar towns throughout the US. I began to wonder why it had been singled out as a target by the arsonists. What was it about this town that had made them use it as the trigger to try and start a war?

Perhaps the answer lay in the fact that the town was so ordinary. Maybe the attackers wanted to make it clear that, by attacking a normal and perfectly average village, they were in fact targeting all of humanity. Attacking a town of some remark or significance might have given the impression that a specific person or group of people were being targeted. If the attack had been carried out by mutants – Magneto and his people seemed the most likely suspects – then their intention must have been to provoke a human counter-attack.

My sun-glasses were slipping down the bridge of my nose and I reached with my hand to push them back up. For years I'd needed to wear them to protect my ultra-sensitive eyes from the sun's light, but Dr Grey – shortly before she had died – had given me a special ocular treatment that strengthened my eyes, meaning I no longer needed the shades. The only use they had now was as a disguise. My eyes, as a result of my mutation, did not have black pupils like a normal human's, but bright gold ones. This gave away instantly the fact that I was a mutant, and so I wore the sun-glasses to hide it. We were also travelling in ordinary clothes. Chris had wanted to put on an X-Man uniform for the first time, but the nature of our assignment meant that we had to travel incognito. If anyone discovered we were mutants, we'd be in trouble, given the current climate of unrest.

We were walking across a small grassy area towards a forest. The school lay on the other side of the trees. Suddenly Chris knelt down to examine the ground in front of us.

"Look at this," he said. "The grass has been flattened down. Seems as if there's been a vehicle here recently."

"What, a car?" said Chloe.

"No…it looks more like the landing struts of a helicopter."

"The people who started the fire?"

"Possibly. I can't imagine a lot of people bringing helicopters to a remote place like this."

He straightened again and we continued to the forest. Walking through the wood, we came to the edge of the trees, finding ourselves on a small hill that overlooked the town.

"That must be the school over there," I said, pointing to a building on the edge of the village.

"What can you see from here?" asked Chris.

Using my mutated long-range eyesight, I squinted across the distance, zooming in to get a better view.

"It looks like it's been completely destroyed," I said. "I'm glad there was nobody inside at the time. There are a few police and people in suits outside the building. We're going to have to get down there without any of them seeing us."

"Yeah," said Chris. "It won't be easy, but we'll have to do it somehow. What's it like inside the building?"

I shifted my gaze to the school building and stared at the walls. Pushing my focus beyond the outer wall, I used my X-ray eyesight to see inside the building. Scanning the interior carefully, I said, "There's nobody inside. It must be too dangerous; parts of the building might still collapse after being weakened by the fire."

"Good. So if we can get inside, we shouldn't have any more problems."

Chloe frowned, "Except for trying to find out who did this. What are we looking for, exactly?"

"There must have been evidence left behind," I reasoned. "If the police have been able to link it to mutants, they must have found something at the scene."

"Maybe not," said Chris. "The fire might well have been started by humans, humans who want a war to begin, but want to point the finger at us for starting it. The evidence may be fake, or maybe there isn't any at all."

"Well, hopefully we'll find out something when we get in there," I said. "Which raises the next question: how are we going to get inside?"

"Any unguarded entrances?" Chris asked, gesturing towards the school building.

"No," I said. "There's a front and a back door and they're both being guarded. There's more people at the front, and it's in full view of the rest of the town."

"So how do we get in?" asked Chloe.

"I can see a way," I said. "On the second floor, there's a section of wall been blown away by the fire. I can use my telekinesis to levitate myself through the gap."

"Just you? What about us?"

"I don't have enough power to lift all three of us, or even two. You'll need to find another way."

"Well, it's no problem for me," said Chris. "I just need to find any kind of opening on the ground floor, and I'll change into liquid to get inside."

"What about me?" said Chloe.

"Why don't you just use your usual trick?" he suggested. "Talk to a few animals and get them to distract whoever's guarding the building. Then you can sneak in."

"Good plan, but I don't see any animals."

"I do," I said. "I'm using my X-ray eyesight to look through the road, down into the sewers. There are rats."

"Oh, yuck," said Chris. "I hate rats."

"I love all animals," Chloe retorted. "That should work. I can talk to rats."

"You've done it before?"

"Not with rats, but I've talked to mice before. It shouldn't be too different."

I nodded, "OK. We just need a way for you to get down there. There's a drain covering in the road outside the school, but it's too close to the police. There must be another one somewhere. Yes, I can see one. About a hundred yards down the street."

"Can I get there unseen?" she asked.

"If you're careful. Come on, we'd better move. Chris, you go first and we'll follow."

Chris started down the hill, crouching low, keeping behind trees, rocks or other obstacles to avoid being seen. I watched as he threaded his way through a narrow gully of sorts, and made it safely to the side of the school. There were five windows in the wall he was standing beside, and four of them were closed. The fifth, however, was open a crack. Just a crack, but that was all Chris needed. Jamming his finger into the crack, he called upon his gift. His body began to liquefy and he flowed silently through the gap in the window. In a matter of moments, his entire body had poured through the crack into the school building. I knew he'd be solidifying back into his normal shape, and I turned to face Chloe, "Looks like it's your turn now. I'll stay here and keep an eye out. If I see anyone who might spot you, I'll telepath a warning to you."

"OK. Here goes."

She planted a small kiss on my cheek, and got up to run down the hill, trying to follow the same path Chris had taken. A thief and a rogue his entire life, it was no surprise that Chris had chosen the safest, stealthiest route down. I had made sure to memorise the way he went, so as to use it myself. For now, I had to keep my eyes on Chloe, not something I needed any encouraging to do. She was, quite frankly, stunning. When I'd first met her, I'd found her attractive, but in a cute little girl kind of way: innocent, naïve, and scared. Our experiences over the last two months had changed each of us, but Chloe in particular had matured from a terrified child into a merely cautious young adult. Her face had lost its little girl cuteness, to be replaced by the gorgeous curves of a young woman. Though she was my girlfriend, I knew I wasn't the only person who found her attractive. I had often sensed Chris looking at her with feelings that were far from mere friendship. Chloe had no idea, but I was definitely not happy about it.

However, now was not the time to worry about that. Chloe had reached the town below, and was making her way down the road to the second drain cover. I scanned the streets for anyone who might interfere with her, but there was no sign of anybody. She reached the drain cover and hesitated, looking around anxiously.

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Nobody can see you, I reassured her, _go for it_.

Chloe grabbed the handles on the cover, and pulled it upwards. I could she was struggling – it was obviously heavy and probably hadn't been moved for several years – but she managed to lift it up and move it on to the ground beside her. Looking down cautiously into the drain, she took a deep breath to prepare herself, then dropped down inside. I forced my eyes to focus past the surface of the road, and I could see her. Crouching down inside the sewer, she had already attracted the attention of several rats, and was beginning her work. It was my turn now.

I was taller than both Chloe and Chris, so I had to be as careful as possible not to be seen while I was descending the hill. I had the advantage that I could use my telepathy to sense whether or not anyone had seen me, and I managed to get to the side of the school building without anyone raising the alarm.

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Chris? Are you inside? I telepathed.

Pushing my senses out, I detected his presence, and read his mind for any response.

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Yeah, I'm in, he was thinking.

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How's it look?

Pretty bad. The whole place is wrecked. Moving around isn't going to be easy. I can see a staircase up ahead. I'll meet you there, since you're coming in from the second floor – if I can get to it.

Be with you in a moment. I'm just waiting for Chloe's distraction.

I faced the wall, and looked through it to see what was happening. Four or five policemen were at the entrance to the school, apparently guarding it. There were also two or three men in suits, talking in low tones together, though I couldn't hear what they were saying. I wondered who they were. Not an American myself, I could easily imagine them as the stereotypical men in black sent out by the FBI or the US government or the military or whoever in this type of situation. It probably didn't matter. Whoever they were, they were evidently investigating the arson, and we had to steer clear of them. 

As I watched, the first few rats began to emerge from a gap in the drain covering by the men's feet. At first nobody noticed them, then the number of rats started to grow, and one or two of the cops began backing away uncomfortably. I wasn't sure exactly what Chloe had told the rats to do – she usually wouldn't risk an animal's safety by asking it to attack anyone – but I watched intently, waiting for my opportunity to make my move. As more and more rats poured out of the sewers on to the street, the men in front of the building were now starting to look around nervously. The mass of rodents began to swarm around them, and they did the only sensible thing: run. The rats followed them as they rushed down the street, heading nowhere in particular, driven by fear. I knew we'd only have a few seconds before the men calmed down and tried to get back to the school, so I made my move.

Lifting my hands, I used my telekinesis to raise myself from the ground, moving steadily up towards the gap in the wall of the second floor. Looking down, I could see the drain cover being pushed up from beneath, and Chloe climbing out on to the street. She glanced behind her to see the men still being pursued down the street by the rats, then pushed the drain cover back into place, and pulled open the front door of the building. I reached the hole in the wall, and gripped the edges to pull myself inside. All three of us had made it inside the school without being seen, and now we had to start looking for any clues that might tell us who was responsible for this mess.

I saw the staircase, slightly further down the corridor, and went to meet Chris. Parts of the floor sagged beneath my weight as I walked, and I trod carefully, knowing full well that the wooden floor could collapse beneath me at any moment. If it did, I'd have to react quickly to use my telekinesis and stop myself from falling through to the level below. Luck, however, was with me as I got to the staircase without the floorboards giving way. The staircase presented yet another problem. It too was wooden, and the fire had not been kind to it. Many of the steps were missing, others burnt into a decidedly shaky-looking condition. 

"I guess I won't be taking the stairs, then," I muttered to myself.

I lifted my hand, and used my power to safely descend to the floor below without touching any of the damaged stairs. Chris was leaning against the wall, waiting for me.

"Where's Chloe? Did it work?" he asked.

"I think so. She should be inside somewhere."

I tried to sense her. Yes, she was close by, and heading towards us. A few moments later, she came around the corner and jumped slightly as she almost walked into us.

"You both made it OK," she said, sounding relieved. "What do we do now?"

"Now we start looking for evidence," I said.

"Did you have a nice chat with your furry friends?" Chris said sarcastically. "What do they talk about? Shakespeare, Mozart, Picasso?"

"Very funny," said Chloe. "As a matter of fact, they were quite scared and upset."

"About what?"

"Something that happened last night."

"The fire?"

"What? No. It was some kind of creature. Something that came down into the sewers, that scared them."

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure. They said it was a rat, but at the same time it wasn't a rat."

"Oh, that makes sense," he said caustically, raising an eyebrow. "Was it or wasn't it?"

"I told you, I don't know. I couldn't understand what they meant. They couldn't tell what it was."

"Maybe it was a mutant," I suggested. "Animals tend to have difficulty identifying what we are, isn't that right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"OK, so a person who mutated into a rat," Chris sighed. "That makes even less sense."

"No, it could be right," I said. "Not everybody mutates to have a particular gift, like the two of you have. Some people mutate into a life-form that's mostly human but shares characteristics with another species. Don't you remember the Professor told us about that guy called Toad? He was one of Magneto's original followers."

"So you think this rat-man is one of the ones responsible for starting the fire?"

"Maybe. We need to keep looking. Should we split up or stay together?"

"Stay together, I should think. It's not a big place, so it shouldn't take us long," he said.

Chloe and I nodded our agreement, and the three of us moved off together to begin searching the rooms.

It didn't take us long to find our first piece of evidence. The third room we tried was a classroom, or at least it had been. It had been relatively untouched by the fire, and most of the wooden tables and chairs were still intact. On the blackboard it seemed the arsonists had left a message. I figured they'd deliberately left this room untouched so that their message would be found. It read as follows: **ALL MUTANTS WILL UNITE AS BROTHERS! ALL HUMANS WILL BE KILLED! LET US TAKE OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS THE DOMINANT SPECIES ON THE PLANET. HUMANITY'S TIME IS AT AN END. IT IS OUR TIME NOW!**

"This would be our evidence, then," said Chloe. "Who do you think it was?"

"I don't know, but it's got Magneto written all over it," I said. "Is he expecting all mutants to join together under his banner and take control of the world?"

Chris was shaking his head, "I'm not sure about this. It seems too blatant, too obvious. Too much like Magneto to actually be him, if you know what I mean. How do we know this wasn't left by humans who wanted to frame mutants?"

"That could be true," I replied. "But remember there _was_ at least one mutant here last night. The rats detected him. Or her."

"Hmm…I'd forgotten about that. Do you think Magneto was behind this?"

"I dunno. It seems likely. I wonder if Jacqueline was involved."

"Maybe. Hey, maybe this will give us a chance to get close to her, to try and bring her back to our side."

"How do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"Well how about this," Chris suggested. "One or more of us joins Magneto, pretending to have been inspired by his message. We get close to Jacqueline and we convince her to come back."

"That wouldn't work. She's telepathic, remember? She'd know we were deceiving them in an instant," I said.

"Can't you shield your mind from her somehow?"

"No. She's more powerful than I am. Besides, the very fact that I was shielding my mind would be a bit of a give-away, wouldn't it?"

"True. But still, if we get the chance to talk to her…"

"It wouldn't be as easy as that. She's still got that other mind inside of her, the psychopathic one, who's probably manipulating her. She won't be the same person we used to know."

"But we still have to try and help her!"

"I agree with that. I just don't see how."

Chloe looked at the message on the board again, "So what do we do about this? Call the Professor and tell him?"

"How do we get in touch with him?" I asked.

Chris thrust his hand inside his jacket, "Storm gave me one of their communicators, and the mansion's frequency. I hope I can remember it."

He punched in the frequency and put the communicator to his ear, waiting until he got a response, "Professor? Oh, hi. Is the Professor there? Oh, OK. How can I contact him? Hmm? Ah, OK. Right, thanks."

"He wasn't there?" I said.

"No. He and Cyclops left half an hour ago, on their way to talk to the President. It was Nightcrawler who answered."

"What did he say?"

"He gave me the frequency for Xavier's personal communicator. Hold on."

He programmed in the new number, and waited for the Professor to answer. Several moments passed, and a frown crossed Chris' face, "He isn't answering."

"Wrong frequency?"

"No, it's the one Kurt gave me. Xavier must be busy. I'll call Storm and tell her. Maybe she can get in touch with him."

He used the communicator for the third time, and this time he got an answer, "Hey, Storm. Shapeshifter here. Listen, we've found some clues. We reckon Magneto was behind the attack on the school, or at least it looks that way. What do you want us to do now? Hmm? No, I tried, but I haven't been able to contact him. Huh. Mmm-hmm. Yeah. That close, huh? OK, we'll get right on it."

"What did she say?"

"They've rescued two of the mutants who are on the run, but the third is proving more difficult. They're having to face a mob of some kind, and she wants to keep everything calm and not resort to using force. She's afraid Wolverine's going to go off on his loose cannon routine pretty soon. Anyway, one of the people they're meant to be rescuing is quite close to us. She wants us to find them."

"Where? How far?"

"North. Ten miles or so."

"That'll take a while," I said.

"No, it won't. I've got an idea. We find a farm, and steal some horses. I've never ridden one before, but Chloe will be able to tame them easily enough, right, Chloe?"

"Yeah, I imagine so."

"Did Storm say anything else?" I asked.

"No. But she seemed a bit worried that we couldn't get hold of Xavier."

"You think something's happened to him?"

He shrugged, "Dunno. Storm said she'd try and get in touch with him."

"The Professor can't be in danger, can he?" asked Chloe, sounding scared.

"He's not invulnerable," said Chris. "But still, if he _is _in trouble, then none of us are safe."

"I guess we'll find out," I said. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"The way I came in," Chris answered. "The windows will open from inside. Come on, we haven't got any time to waste. Magneto, or whoever's behind this, is working to their own agenda, and if we don't keep up with them and stop whatever they're doing, we'll be powerless to prevent them from killing as many humans as they desire."


	4. Without a Leader

Chapter Two: Without a Leader

After travelling the majority of the distance on three horses we'd found at a farm, we had let them go back home and continued the rest of the way on foot. We had almost arrived at the co-ordinates Storm had given us, when I sensed another mutant's presence. 

"There's someone here," I said to the others. "Pretty close. Keep your eyes open. They may not realise we're here to help them."

We had left all signs of civilisation behind a while ago, and had no idea where we were. We were following a dirt track of sorts, currently walking across a rocky patch of ground, with a forest visible ahead of us.

"Where are they?" asked Chris.

"Up ahead. In the forest, I think."

"Moving?"

"No, staying still. They must be trying to hide from whoever is chasing them."

We came to the edge of the forest, and Chloe looked into the dark mass of trees apprehensively, "How do we know they'll even be friendly? What if they try to kill us?"

"We don't know if they'll be friendly. We can't be sure of anything. We just have to hope."

Chris led the way into the woods, and I concentrated my telepathic sense on trying to pinpoint the mutant's location.

"We're almost there. A few yards away," I said.

"I don't see anything," he said.

A figure appeared in my peripheral vision.

"Look out!" I yelled, grabbing Chloe and pushing her to the ground.

Chris dived to one side to avoid the jagged bolt of lightning that scythed through the air where we'd just been standing. I rolled over and looked to see the person, standing not far away, lifting their hand to send another lightning bolt in our direction. Quickly I raised my arm and used my telekinesis to hold their hand in place, preventing them from launching another attack. The figure struggled, but couldn't break out of my telepathic lock. 

Now I could get a look at our attacker: a girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, blonde-haired, wearing an ordinary T-shirt and jeans, looking terrified. I got to my feet, still using my power to hold her arm completely still, and approached her. Her eyes widened and she screamed, "Leave me alone! Please, don't hurt me, just leave me alone!"

"Relax. We're not going to hurt you. We're mutants too."

She gasped, "You are?"

"Yes. Promise me you won't fire another lightning bolt at us, and I'll let your hand go."

"I promise."

I relaxed my power, and the telepathic lock on her hand was taken away. She raised it once more, and I tensed myself to avoid another electric attack, but she merely used it to nervously brush a lock of hair out of her eyes. I stepped closer. Chris and Chloe were close behind me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Felicity. Some people call me Shock. Who _are_ you? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, that's a long story."

"You're not an American. Your accent – "

"No, I'm from Scotland," I said. "We're here to help you. You're running away, right?"

She nodded quickly, "Yeah. I heard some mutants destroyed a school. Everyone in my town got really angry and wanted to attack any mutant they could find. I'm the only mutant in my town, so I just had to run."

"What about your parents?"

"They knew it wasn't safe for me to stay. They gave me some money and tried to give me a head-start by delaying the people who were after me. I just headed off in any direction. I don't where I'm heading for, I don't have anywhere to go!"

"Don't worry about that. We can help you," I said. "I'm Neil. This is Chloe and Chris. If you come with us, you can be safe."

She backed away slightly, and I sensed her fear growing, "Come with you? Where?"

Suddenly there came a sound, from somewhere behind me, intruding into the peaceful quiet of the forest.

"Sshh! Did you hear that?" I said, raising my hand for silence.

"No."

"I didn't hear anything," said Chris.

I hissed, "Quiet! I'm trying to listen."

They fell silent.

"I can't hear anything," Chloe whispered.

"I can," I said.

"What?"

"A helicopter."

The sound got louder – obviously the helicopter was getting closer – and Chris nodded, "I hear it now."

"What's a helicopter doing here?" I said. "It must be flying pretty low. It must be just outside the forest."

The whirring noise of the rotor blades stopped, and I realised the chopper had landed.

"They've landed," I said to the others. "Come on. We'll hide somewhere and see who it is."

Chris nodded, and we headed further into the forest, seeking cover. The blonde girl, Felicity, hesitated for a moment, then ran after us. We found a hiding place behind a large rock, and crouched down to make ourselves invisible. I used my X-ray eyesight to look through the rock and see what was happening.

From our position, I could see the point where the dirt path entered the forest. The back end of the helicopter was visible, sitting on the ground just outside the trees. Three people had climbed out, and were walking down the path in our direction. One of them I didn't recognise. One of them I recognised because I knew him. The last I recognised from his description.

"Magneto," I whispered to the others.

"_Here_?" Chris gasped. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know. John's with him. And some small, ugly guy – don't know who he is."

"Is Jacqueline there?"

"What's going on?" a terrified Felicity whispered.

"He's coming this way," I hissed. "Quick, anything on you that's made of metal, get rid of it! Now!"

"Why?" Felicity asked.

"Because Magneto can control metal! Just do it!"

Rummaging through our pockets, we hurriedly discarded any metallic items we had in our possession. Fortunately, the communicator Storm had given us was constructed entirely of non-metallic materials, presumably with Magneto in mind.

__

Stay still and don't make a sound, I telepathed to the others, _if we're lucky, they won't find us_.

Felicity jumped slightly when my telepathic voice came into her head, but thankfully that was her only reaction. I watched as Magneto, John and the small man came further down the path, stopping a few yards away from our hiding place.

"I don't see anyone," said John. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Psyche located a mutant here. She isn't usually wrong," Magneto replied.

The small man sniffed at the air for a few moments, then said, "Somebody is here. Mutants. Three – no, four."

"Four?" said Magneto. "Psyche said there was only one. Ha…I wonder if Charles has sent his people to get here before us?"

John looked up at him, flicking on his lighter, "Xavier's people? Here?"

"Rat, where are they?"

The small man sniffed at the air again, and turned his head in our direction, "Over there."

Rat? I wondered if this was the mutant who had been at the elementary school last night. A mutant who was like a rat, Chloe had said. This man certainly fit the description. 

__

They know we're here, I sent to the others, _we can't hide._

We can fight, said Chris.

__

We could try and get away, said Chloe.

__

Let's try and talk to them, I said, _I don't think Magneto will kill us. He's only interested in killing humans._

I hope you're right, Chris responded.

__

I'll talk to him, I said, _you three get ready to run._

Go for it.

I got up from behind the rock, and walked on to the path. The small rat-man saw me and alerted the other two.

"Magneto," I acknowledged him.

The grey-haired leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants looked me up and down, and replied, "And you would be…?"

"Oculus."

"Ah, yes. Psyche has told me about you. I suppose Gaia and Shapeshifter are here too? And the fourth would be the mutant we came here to find."

"What do you want with her?"

"The same I want with any mutant. To help them fulfil their potential."

John flicked on his cigarette lighter, and took a step forward. I faced Magneto, "So why does that involve setting fire to an elementary school? What does that accomplish?"

"Two things," Magneto replied. "First of all, it sends a message to humans that we are no longer prepared to wait for evolution to take its course. We are already the superior species and we will ensure the survival of the fittest."

"And the second…?"

"…does not concern you," he said. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Would you be willing to join me?"

The answer came quickly and easily to my lips, "No."

"Ah, so Charles has already filled your head with his fantasies about coexisting with humans," Magneto laughed. "We both know it will never happen. Humanity will never accept us."

"You don't know that," I challenged. "It may yet happen. Give humans a chance to show their true face."

In a split second, his expression changed. Anger appeared on Magneto's face, and he raised his arm. I had no metallic items left on me, so there was nothing he could do to hurt me. Nothing happened. Attack, it seemed, was not his intention. Instead Magneto pulled up his sleeve and held up his fore-arm.

"See that?" he snapped coldly, pointing to the number burned into his skin. "I got that in the Nazi death camps when I was a boy. I have already seen the true face of humanity, thank you, first as a Jew and now as a mutant. Do not presume to tell me I have been wrong for nearly sixty years. You will join us or we will be forced to kill you."

"In that case, you'll have to try and kill me."

John stepped forward, holding his lighter, but Magneto raised a hand to stop him.

"Wait," he said. "So Oculus will not join us. What about you, Shapeshifter? Gaia? I know you're both here somewhere."

Chris was the first to appear from behind the rock. Standing beside me, he shook his head, "Sorry, Granddad, but I'll stick with Xavier. You're probably right that humans will never like us, but that doesn't mean we can go around killing them."

__

Don't piss him off, I sent, _we have to get out of here alive._

Magneto had not responded to the granddad remark. Perhaps he had not heard it. Chloe and Felicity were now with us. Chloe was trembling, and I could sense her fear, but she spoke defiantly to Magneto, "I'll never kill an innocent person. You're a murderer and I'd sooner die than join you."

"That can be arranged," said Magneto smoothly. "What about you?"

He was addressing Felicity, and she looked up at him, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know who you are."

"I am someone who can help you. Someone who will protect you from the humans who want to hurt you. Someone who can make sure they never threaten you again."

"Yeah, by killing them," said Chris. "Don't listen to him. He wants to kill every human on the planet. He's a psychopath."

Felicity's eyes widened and she looked at Magneto in fear. 

"Everything that I do is in the interest of mutants, people like yourself," said Magneto, trying to convince her. "We have tried extending the hand of friendship towards humans, and they have rejected it. Our only interest now is defending ourselves."

"Defending yourselves?" Chris demanded. "What did a bunch of kids in an elementary school do to you, that meant you had to burn down their school in return?"

"I grow tired of your insolence," Magneto snapped. "Your smart mouth may amuse Charles Xavier, but you will find I do not share his sense of humour. Now, my dear girl, will you join me?"

"No!" Felicity said. "I don't trust you! You're like a snake!"

Magneto narrowed his eyes at the four of us, but only for a second. His face returned to his cold, evaluating stare, and he turned to walk back to the helicopter, "So be it. Kill them."

The other two, John and the one called Rat, began moving towards us. John flicked on his lighter and flung a ball of flame towards us. Chris ducked and it flew over his head, igniting the branch of a tree.

"Come on, John, you can't do this!" Chris exclaimed. "We were friends!"

"Not any more," Pyro snapped.

It seemed to me that Magneto had made a mistake, leaving two to fight the four of us. Admittedly we didn't know powerful Rat was, but surely the odds were in our favour. That was until I saw the female figure climbing out of the helicopter and begin walking down the path towards us.

Jacqueline.

This made things considerably more difficult. Not only was she a more powerful telepath than I was, she knew all of our strengths and weaknesses, having fought alongside us enough times.

"Jacqueline!" Chris exclaimed.

"She is gone. I am the one called Psyche," Jacqueline said. "You are going to die. Rat, go for Gaia. She is the weak link. There are no animals here. Pyro, take Shapeshifter. I will destroy Oculus."

"What about the other one?" Pyro asked.

"Watch her and see what she does."

The three of them moved towards us. Instinctively we backed away, but I knew we couldn't do that for ever.

"We're screwed," Chris said. "How are we going to do this? We can't hurt Jacqueline if we want to get her back. The same goes for John. I'll happily kill the rat guy, mind you."

"We've got to try and escape," I said. "Can we out-run them?"

Before Chris could reply, Psyche had raised her hand and flung the four of us backwards. I couldn't react quickly enough to slow us, and we collided painfully with the rock we'd just been hiding behind.

"What are you waiting for?" Psyche shouted. "Kill them!"

Rat was coming for us now, covering the ground quickly, his clawed hands outstretched to slash at us. Chris moved forward to face him, but another fireball from Pyro forced him to roll to one side to avoid it. Rat dodged past him and made for Chloe. I lifted my hand and used my power to throw him away from her. Psyche gave an angry snarl, and sent me flying into the trunk of an oak tree. Chloe and Felicity backed off uncertainly, trying to get away from Rat. 

Psyche raised her arms, and the next thing I knew, the giant oak tree was collapsing down towards me. I rolled aside, and it crashed down beside me with inches to spare. Pyro tried to flame Chris once more, but my friend again managed to dodge, and headed towards Psyche. Chloe, hurrying backwards to get away from Rat, tripped over a tree root and fell. The rodent-like mutant pounced. Felicity fired a blast of lightning towards him, forcing Rat to leap sideways to get out of the way.

"Pyro, forget Shapeshifter. Kill the other girl instead," Psyche demanded.

"Oh, Psyche, I never knew you cared," was Chris' sarcastic response, as he moved to attack the girl who had been Jacqueline.

She lifted her hand to fling him aside, but I was ready and I countered her attack, holding Chris in place. Felicity, growing in confidence, launched another bolt of electricity, this time at Pyro, who had to dive headlong to avoid being hit. Rat got to his feet, looking less than pleased. Felicity was unaware of him coming towards her, but Chloe was able to stick out her leg and trip Rat, who went flying. Reacting quickly, the small man placed his hands on the ground, pushed away, and slammed into Chloe's side with both feet.

Like a red mist passing before eyes, I felt the fury travelling through my veins, and I entered my berserk state. It was another of the mutations I had been implanted with as a baby, and it was usually triggered by extreme bursts of rage, such as when someone tried to hurt Chloe. Such as now. Moving across the ground with enhanced speed, I ducked a fireball from Pyro, and pulled back my fist to deliver a devastating punch to Rat.

He was too fast. Moving aside, he sent his own fist into the side of my head, stunning me, knocking me to the ground. Felicity screamed as a burst of fire hit her in the side. She fell to the floor, clutching her abdomen, trying to will the pain away. Pyro smirked. Chris gave a cry of surprise as Psyche launched him through the air, landing painfully on his back. We were losing.

I tried to think logically. Who should we concentrate our attack on? Who was their weak link? Pyro, of course. Take that lighter away from him and he'd be defenceless. I stretched out my hand, whisking the lighter out of his, and sending it spinning through the air into the depths of the forest. Pyro turned to face me, fury mixed with fear etched into his face.

"Psyche! Help!" he exclaimed.

Ignoring him for the moment, I turned my attention back to Chloe. She'd picked up a fallen branch and was using it to fend off Rat. Felicity was nearby, still on the ground, holding her side, sobbing in pain. I grabbed Rat from behind, and threw him away from Chloe. Chris was struggling, getting to his knees, refusing to give up, fighting to the last. Psyche was circling him like a predator stalking her prey, just waiting until he dared to approach her once more. Raising both arms, I used my power to lift Rat off the ground, and send him flying into Psyche's back. Taken by surprise, she was knocked to the floor, and I seized the opportunity.

"Come on! Let's make a run for it!"

Pulling Chris to his feet, I frantically waved to Chloe to start running along the path that led further into the forest. Felicity wasn't moving, so I scooped her up in my arms and began hurrying after Chris. Psyche had picked herself up and was staring after us with hatred. It both scared and saddened me. Was Jacqueline so far gone that she was trying to kill us? Was there nothing remaining of her previous self? Was she gone forever?

"Are they following?" Chris called back over his shoulder.

"No…in fact, they're retreating. Magneto's beckoning them back to the helicopter…"

Her body rigid with fury, Psyche reluctantly began to follow Pyro and Rat back to the chopper.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Oh, wait…I see why."

In the field behind the 'copter, our jet was just beginning a vertical landing. Magneto was cutting his losses and beating a retreat before the numbers were irreversibly in our favour. The helicopter took off, and the four of us hurried back along the path towards the jet.

Storm and Wolverine were the first to emerge from the jet and hurry towards us.

"Was that Magneto?" Storm called as she approached.

I nodded, "Yes. And the rest of his crew, minus Mystique. I don't know where she was."

"We do," said Wolverine. "Hurry up and get on the jet, and we'll fill you in."

We followed them back towards the aircraft, and as we got on board, Storm ran to the cockpit to take the controls. Wolverine helped me lower Felicity on to a bench. She was asleep or unconscious. She'd received burns from Pyro's attack, but they didn't seem to be serious.

"Did you find all the mutants you were meant to be rescuing?" I asked.

"Yeah," Wolverine replied. "We came here to pick you up with the last one. But it seems you ran into some trouble."

"Magneto was looking for her too. He wanted her to join him. He asked us as well."

"I take it you refused."

"Of course. What's this about Mystique?"

Wolverine sighed, "It's bad. Cyclops and the Prof never made it to Washington. They disappeared en route. We've tried contacting them, but got nothing. We tried tracking their progress, to see how far they'd gotten, and it seems they were grabbed by Mystique. We don't know how she did it."

"It was a trap," I realised. "Magneto said he had two reasons for setting fire to that school. I'll bet the second reason was so he could lure the Professor away from the mansion. What will he do? Will he kill him?"

"Don't ask me, kid," said Wolverine. "I can't fathom the mind of a megalomaniac. We're going back to the mansion now. We'll drop off the kids we rescued, then see if we can't work out some plan for fixing this whole mess."

We travelled back to the mansion in silence, other than Marie, who was helping to reassure the children who had been rescued. They were all younger than I was, and looked scared. I often wondered why most mutants were my age or younger, whereas there only seemed to be a handful the same age as Wolverine or Storm, and no others, as far as I knew, the same age as the Professor or Magneto. Perhaps it was because human mutation was becoming more and more common as time went on, but had been extremely rare up until 20 or 30 years ago. Maybe Magneto or Xavier had been the very first mutant. I didn't actually know which of them was older. It wasn't really the kind of thing either of them was likely to talk about.

My mind was wandering, as it would often do when I was confused, and I forced myself to focus on the situation at hand. It was not good. Magneto seemed to have been at least one step ahead of us all the time. He'd set the fire – I'd tricked him into admitting to that – to start this whole thing off. At least we had managed to rescue all of these children before he could get his hands on them. But at the same time, he'd been able to grab the Professor and Cyclops. We had no way of knowing what he'd do to them, so we had to act fast.

It didn't take long to get back to the mansion, and Storm called us to Xavier's office for an emergency meeting. Bobby and Marie disappeared to help the rescued children find somewhere to settle in, and the rest of us gathered in the office. Nightcrawler had been informed, and was waiting for us. In the absence of the Professor, Cyclops would normally take control of things, but with him also gone, I was unsure where the chain of command led next. Storm seemed to be taking charge for now.

"Here is the situation," she began. "The wave of unrest from the fire is still spreading across the state, and the Professor and Cyclops have been captured by Magneto. We know Magneto was responsible for the fire, but we have no idea what his next move will be. We are without a leader and without a clear goal."

Wolverine spoke up, "The worst thing is, if we get too close to him, Magneto can threaten to kill either Cyclops or the Prof. In the face of that kind of threat, we'd have to back down."

"So what do we do?" Chloe asked nervously.

"We stick together. And we fight," Storm said. "I can't come up with a master-plan that will solve everything, the way the Professor would. And I can't motivate people the way Cyclops can. But we've got to think of something. Anything that will set on us the right path."

"What about talking to the President?" Nightcrawler suggested

"I don't know if that would help," she said. "The Professor has a way with people, a way I don't have. There's no guarantee I could get the President to listen to me, and that could make things worse."

"So, we need the Professor back," said Chris. "That's got to be our first priority. Find out where Magneto's holding him, and get him out."

"Easier said than done," Wolverine replied. "How do we find him? The traditional way might be a bit slow."

There was silence. Nobody could think of anything. Suddenly I had an idea. I wondered why it hadn't occurred to me before.

"I could use Cerebro," I said.

Five pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. At least three voices said simultaneously, "No!"

"You're not powerful enough," Storm answered. "Don't you remember what happened when your friend Jacqueline tried to use it? It nearly destroyed her. And you've said yourself, you're not as powerful as she is."

"I know…but if we can't think of anything else…" I shrugged. "It might be our only chance. I'm willing to risk it."

"That's a last resort," Wolverine decided. "There's got to be something else we can do."

"I had an idea earlier," said Chris. "I don't know if it would work now."

"Let's hear it."

"OK. Let's say one of us joins Magneto and works against him from within. They might even be able to free the Professor."

Storm raised her eyebrows, looking thoughtful. Wolverine frowned, "Mmm…might work. Who's going to join him, though? He knows us all too well to be fooled by a trick like that."

"Not me," said Nightcrawler.

We turned to face him. He opened his hands and said, "I met him during the Alkali Lake affair, but I've never – how would you say – had a run-in with him? He might believe I was sincere."

"It would be risky," Storm said. "If he found out you were deceiving him, he'd have you killed."

"And you're forgetting about Psyche," I said. "She'd read your mind and know what you were planning."

"I believe I can fool her," he replied. "It is risky, but not as risky as trying to use Cerebro."

"True. Storm, what do you think?"

She sighed, "I think we should try it. I have to say, though, I think it's a bad idea. We have no idea what will happen. But we're in a hopeless situation, and it's the best we've got. All right, now we have a plan, let's sit down and decide how we're going to make it work."


	5. Desperate Measures

Chapter Three: Desperate Measures

There had been a girl who called herself Mindstorm. A girl who was both telepathic and telekinetic, possessing power far beyond that of either Jacqueline or myself. A girl who had been murderous and psychotic. She had sworn to kill all four of us. She had come within seconds of killing Chloe. Until she was stopped. 

Stopped by Jacqueline. 

Our friend's last act of sanity, sacrificing her own mental health to save the rest of us. I could still see in my mind, the all too vivid images of Jacqueline, putting her hands on the sides of Mindstorm's head, and pulling both of their minds back into her own. It was an ability Jacqueline possessed, the ability to hold multiple minds inside her own brain. From that day, the two minds had existed inside Jacqueline's head. Though Jacqueline controlled the body, it seemed almost certain that it was Mindstorm who was really in control, manipulating her thoughts and changing her, making her more and more cruel and depraved with every passing day. She had ceased to be Jacqueline, and had become Psyche, the amalgamation of the two.

There was a third mind that also existed inside her. When Jacqueline was seven years old, her parents had discovered she was a mutant, and disowned her. Unable to cope with the trauma of being thrown out of her own family, the little girl's mind had split into two. One had remained in control of the body, ageing as time went along, the one we knew as Jacqueline. The second had remained the mind of a seven year old girl, trapped in her own head, suffering for ten long years, haunted every moment by the horrific scars that had been left in her memory.

Now the three of them were in there together. I knew Jacqueline could only come back to us if Mindstorm's influence was taken away. Even then, there might not be enough of her old personality remaining. And getting Mindstorm out of her head would not be easy. I didn't even know if it was possible. Could a consciousness be killed, without killing the body in which it existed? We would have to try. If we couldn't…then we would have to kill Jacqueline and put her out of her suffering. That was not something I wanted to think about.

I wondered how much of this Magneto knew. It was obvious Mindstorm had made Jacqueline attach herself to Magneto's crew, seeking the possibility of revenge against me and my friends. What she had planned apart from that, I didn't know. Even though Magneto was our enemy, I suspected there was a good streak in him, something that Mindstorm certainly didn't have. She was potentially far worse than even he.

I lay awake in the darkness as I contemplated these thoughts. I hadn't wanted to sleep, but Storm had insisted we get some rest. There was nothing more we could do anyway, until Nightcrawler had infiltrated Magneto's group. I wasn't sure what our next move was, and I suspected neither she nor Wolverine knew either. We desperately needed the Professor, or somebody like him, to plan our actions. The three of them had headed for New York City. The plan was for Nightcrawler to start some kind of trouble, an angry mutant fighting for his right to freedom, and hopefully attract Magneto's attention. If it worked, he'd join the Brotherhood and try to locate the Professor. If it didn't work, Storm and Wolverine would grab him and the three of them would high-tail it back here. They'd left the mansion shortly before midnight.

Glancing at the clock, I saw the time. 3am. I could hear snoring from the bed nearest the wall: Chris. He never had any problems dropping off to sleep, regardless of the situation. He could switch on and off like a light. Chloe, in the bed nearest mine, wasn't making any noise, but her chest was rising and falling rhythmically, and I assumed she too was asleep. The bed on my left was occupied by Felicity. Since regaining consciousness in the infirmary, she'd attached herself firmly to the three of us. I supposed she needed something familiar to cling to, in this strange and frightening new environment, and we were the best thing she had.

I couldn't sleep. I pushed back my duvet, stood up, and headed for the door. Perhaps a short walk would settle my mind sufficiently. Pushing the door open, I walked down the darkened corridor, not heading anywhere in particular, letting my feet go where they chose, trying to collect my thoughts and calm my mind. While I was deep in thought, my footsteps led me down the staircase and into the games room. Looking up, I could see that the television was switched on, and somebody was sitting on the comfortable sofa in front of it. Obviously I wasn't the only person who couldn't get to sleep. I walked closer and saw Bobby, idly flicking through the channels, with Marie curled in his arms, sleeping silently.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Hey, man," he replied. "Couldn't sleep?"

I sat down on the sofa next to them, "No. I can't stop worrying. I can't stop thinking about Magneto and what he's going to do. I can't stop thinking about Jacqueline."

"She's with Magneto now?"

"Yeah. She's lost her mind. She's not who she used to be."

"And you want to get her back?"

"If I can."

Bobby didn't make any response. He rested his head on the back of the sofa, and I thought he'd fallen asleep too, when he stirred and said, "I wonder when Storm and the other two will get back."

"Well, if everything goes to plan, there will be only be one other," I said. "I wonder if they – "

I stopped as I was distracted by the television, "We apologise to viewers for interrupting our regular broadcast with this newsflash. Less than an hour ago, two mutants were arrested by military forces as they attempted to incite a riot in New York City."

"Oh no," I gasped, as pictures of the incident flashed up on screen.

Wolverine and Storm. Both lying motionless, being carried into the back of a military vehicle. I couldn't tell if they were unconscious or dead. With them went our last hope.

The news reporter continued, "This special army unit, under the command of Colonel Michael Lutowski, was sent to New York specially to deal with the continuing mutant problem in our state. We can only hope that with the capture of these two mutants, peace may return to our streets and cities."

"I don't believe it," Bobby said. "We're lost now. What can we do?"

"Where's Nightcrawler?"

"Hey, you're right. He must have gotten away. Do you think he managed to find Magneto?"

I shook my head slowly, "I have no idea. We can't assume anything."

"What can we do now?"

"I don't know. And why were there military forces involved? Is the army moving in against us?"

"If so, we're finished. Without the Professor, there's no way we can prevent a war."

I stood up and put both hands to my head, trying to clear away the whirlwind of worries, forcing myself to think clearly. A plan. We needed a plan. We needed a flash of inspiration, striking from the heavens like a bolt of lightning. Suddenly, without warning, I got one. I looked up, my eyes wide, staring at Bobby, "I've got it."

"Got what?"

"I know what Magneto's planning to do. I just figured it out."

"What?"

"Go upstairs, wake Chloe and Chris. I'll tell everyone together. Meet me down at the elevator."

"Where are you going?"

"To use Cerebro."

Bobby exclaimed, "_What_?! You can't possibly – "

Marie woke with a start, roused by his shout. She looked at him, then at me, "Oculus? What's going on?"

"Bobby will tell you. Meet me downstairs."

"No way!" he protested. "You can't use Cerebro! It's too dangerous!"

"I have to. There's no other way. Just trust me. Hurry, get the others!"

He seemed torn by indecision, unable to choose between going upstairs to wake them, or stopping me from going to Cerebro. Eventually he made up his mind and ran for the stairs. I turned and hurried down the corridor that led to the elevator. I was halfway there when the enormity of it struck me: I was in command now. In the absence of the adults, I was the oldest person in the school, and temporarily leader of the X-Men. I almost laughed. It was only yesterday that I'd been nothing more than an emergency back-up member, who'd never been out on a mission. Now I was in charge.

I reached the elevator, darted inside, and punched the button for the underground floor. It descended as swiftly and smoothly as ever, but still seemed to take an age to reach the lower level. Once it got there, I bolted out of the lift and towards the huge, circular door that blocked the way to Cerebro. The door that could only be opened by the Professor's retinal scan.

Or by a telepath with X-ray eyesight. I'd done it once before, and now I did it again. Pushing my focus beyond the door, I could see inside the vast spherical chamber. The mechanism that opened the door was now visible. I used my telekinesis to activate it, and the door slid open silently. I went inside, and walked towards the device at the end of the platform

"Neil! No!" came a scream from behind me.

Chloe, still wearing her nightdress, was running madly down the corridor outside, coming towards me.

"You can't! It'll destroy you! Please!" she cried.

I raised my hand, and used my mind to move the switch that closed the door. It slid shut, and Chloe was stuck on the other side. Looking through the door, I could see her shrieking, her eyes flooding with tears, beating helplessly on the door with her little fists. I knew how she felt. We'd both seen Jacqueline almost annihilated by the power of the machine. We both knew I wasn't as powerful as Jacqueline. It was stupid, crazy, insane and suicidal. But it was the only way.

Kneeling in front of the machine, I took a deep breath, offered up a prayer, and placed the headset over my cranium. What now? Did it work automatically? Was there something I had to do to start it up? Something was happening. The wall – the huge, curved wall – in front of me had changed, taking on a cloudy appearance. Was this supposed to happen? I concentrated my thoughts on the Professor, on trying to work out his location. My telepathic senses were stretching out, amplified by the machine, seeking him.

Suddenly, with a jolt that nearly knocked me off the platform, Cerebro joined with my brain. It was the most incredible sensation I'd ever experienced. It was like being in two places at once. I was there in the room, physically, kneeling in front of the machine, but my mind was there as well. I could actually sense my own presence, see myself kneeling there, my eyebrows furrowed in concentration. A moment or two passed, and I could begin to sense more people. Chloe, outside the door, still screaming for me. Chris, Bobby and Marie were with her. I could sense the other students, the other children in the school, upstairs. Most of them were asleep, but one or two lay awake. 

I tried to focus my thoughts on finding the Professor, but I couldn't seem to direct the path of my senses. Cerebro had taken control, and my field of telepathy was spreading out in an ever-increasing ring around me. It began to hurt. I couldn't handle the speed it was moving at, nor the huge distance it was covering. My mind was buffeted by information, like a high-pressure fire hose shooting water at a tiny hole in the ground. There was no way it could all get in, and I was beginning to struggle. As the ring spread further and further, it felt as if my head was being ripped apart. If I did this any longer, I would die. Putting my hands to the helmet, I was about to yank it off, when I sensed something.

The Professor.

Lying on a cold metal table, unmoving, drugged or asleep. He wasn't dead, or I wouldn't have sensed him. There were other mutants nearby, but my mind was losing control and I couldn't identify them. Magneto might have been one, but I couldn't tell. I just needed one more piece of information: where they were. I could see them now: Magneto, Mystique, Pyro, Rat, Psyche, together in the one room. Psyche looked up suddenly, sensing my intrusion into her mind. I moved on, and could sense Cyclops, locked in the adjacent room. His visor had been taken away, and he was groping around blindly, keeping his eyes tight shut.

Going a little further, I could see where they were. Magneto's sanctuary. On an island, off the coast of New York City. That was all I needed to know. With shaking, sweating hands, I pulled the helmet off my head, and slumped to the floor, exhausted beyond movement. I had just enough strength to lift my hand, and mustered the telekinetic power to hit the switch that opened the door. Chloe screamed and they raced towards my unmoving form.

"Neil? Are you all right?" she sobbed.

"Is he dead?" Marie gasped.

"No, otherwise he couldn't have opened the door," said Chris. "Are you OK?"

I opened my eyes, and weakly waved my hand at them, "I – I'll be all right."

"What were you _thinking_?" Chloe shrieked. "You could have killed yourself!"

"I'm fine. And I found them."

"Found who? The Professor?" Bobby asked.

I nodded, "I know where they're holding him."

"Where?"

"Help me upstairs and I'll tell you."

I had partially regained my strength by the time we got up to Xavier's office, but was still too tired to stand. Sinking into a chair, I faced the four of them, "OK. Here it is. Magneto's plan. He wants to start the war against humans, but he knows the Professor will be able to stop him. He's going to get the Professor out of the way."

"How? By killing him?"

"No. Like I said before, they are actually friends. I don't think he would want to kill the Professor. No, he's got something else in mind, and I know what. He's going to try and trap the Professor's mind inside Jacqueline."

"Huh?" said Marie.

"We told you what Jacqueline did to Mindstorm, by dragging her mind into Jacqueline's own. Magneto's going to get her to do the same to the Professor. He'll still be alive, but he won't be a threat to Magneto any more."

"Will he let him out again?"

"I don't know. Maybe he intends to do that once he's won the war. It doesn't matter, because we can't allow him to do this. We have to stop him."

"Right," said Chris slowly. "I hate to be the pessimistic one, but how exactly do we accomplish that? We can't send an army after him. You're looking at all the manpower we have, right here in this room."

"It's impossible," said Chloe. "Even if the five of us go, who stays behind and looks after the children?"

"I don't know, I really don't know," I said. "Some of them can come with us, the ones who are powerful enough to look after themselves. Felicity, for example."

"We can't. It's too risky," Marie said.

"Of course it's risky!" I said. "It's completely insane! It's our last stand! It's all we can do!"

There was silence for a few moments. Chris finally said, "You really think we can do it? Rescue the Professor, stop Magneto, stop the war?"

"How am I supposed to know? We can fight him now and risk getting killed, or we can wait until he's even more powerful, and be sure of getting killed."

Chris nodded, "I'm with you."

The others were more hesitant. Chloe looked at the ground and said, "You know I'll follow you anywhere, but…I…well…I guess I'll go with you."

"Like you say, there's nothing else we can do," Bobby sighed. "I'll go."

"In that case, count me in too," said Marie. "Just tell us what to do. What, how, when and where."

"When and where are easy," I said. "Now, and on an island close to New York City. As for the what and how…I haven't the faintest idea."

"Getting there is the first problem," Bobby said. "I can fly the jet…well, sort of…is it still here?"

"I think so. Storm and the others took one of the cars."

"Good," I said. "OK, here's what we'll do. Bobby, you'd better go to the hangar and get the jet ready. We can think of a plan on the way down there. Chloe, Marie, go upstairs and tell the children what's going on. Get the oldest ones to stay awake and look after the younger ones. I don't want to leave them on their own, but we have no choice. Chris, go and get Felicity and anyone else who's old enough and strong enough to join us."

"What about you?" someone asked.

"I'll be looking out the uniforms. We are X-Men, after all, and we're going to do this properly."


	6. To Save a Life

Chapter Four: To Save a Life

"I can see the island now," Bobby called from the cockpit. "Are you absolutely sure this is the right one?"

From my seat in the mid-section of the jet, I called back, "Yes."

"What's the matter with you?" said Chloe, who was sitting beside me. "You look…distant."

I had my eyes closed and was deep in concentration. I sighed and said to her, "Psyche knows we're coming. She's pushing out with her mind, trying to pinpoint our location. I'm blocking her senses from detecting us."

"Once we get to the island, they're going to know we're there anyway," said Chris. "There's no way we can land this thing without Magneto knowing."

"I know."

"And we _still_ haven't got a plan," Marie said.

Felicity fidgeted, uncomfortable in the tight-fitting uniform she'd been given.

"Well," I said slowly. "There are six of us, and five of them. If each of us can keep one of them busy, that leaves one person to find the Professor and Cyclops."

"And who's that?"

"That would be you, Chloe," I said. "I don't think there will be much in the way of wildlife on this island, so it's best if you stay out of the thick of the fighting. I haven't quite figured out who's going to fight who, but I'm the only one who can take on Psyche."

"Who's going to fight Magneto?" asked Chloe.

"Shock," I replied. "He won't dare touch anything made of metal when she's firing electric bolts at him."

Felicity looked up at me and gasped, "Me? Against Magneto? I can't possibly – "

"You don't have to beat him, just keep him busy for a few minutes," Chris said. "What about the rest?"

"Mystique is their best hand-to-hand fighter," Marie said. "That would be your department, Shapeshifter."

Chris nodded, "Sounds good to me. Iceman is the obvious choice to fight Pyro. That just leaves you with Rat."

"Yeah. Lucky me. I've never seen him in action. What's he capable of?"

I frowned, "He's pretty fast, but isn't that strong. He has a powerful sense of smell, I noticed."

"What do you want me to do with him?"

"I don't know, give him some cheese," Chris shrugged. "Just whatever you can to keep him busy. Once Chloe finds Cyclops and Xavier, we'll make a run for it."

"We're landing now!" Bobby called from up front. "Get ready!"

I opened my eyes and relaxed my telepathy. There was no point trying to hide our presence any more. If Psyche hadn't already sensed us, Magneto would certainly have detected the jet by its metallic content. The six of us stood and prepared to disembark.

"Make sure you have no metallic items," I reminded them. "We've got communicators to stay in touch. Don't use them unless we absolutely have to. Psyche will probably be able to intercept any messages we send. Chloe, once you find the Professor, let us know, and we'll cover your escape back to the jet."

"All right," she said, trying to look more confident than she felt. "If this doesn't work – "

"Don't think about that! It's got to work," I said, taking a deep breath, then giving the order. "Let's go."

We left the jet, hurrying down the boarding ramp, and took our first steps on to Magneto's island. It was still the middle of the night, and darkness surrounded us on all sides. Up ahead, a few hundred yards away, I could make out a building, probably the building in which I'd seen them while using Cerebro.

"I don't see anyone," Shapeshifter said. "Do they know we're here?"

I stretched out with my senses, towards the building, "Yes, they know we're here."

"Then where are they?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're waiting inside. They must know we're here to rescue the Professor."

I ran forward, moving closer to the building, and sensed the others following me. I stopped momentarily as a strange sensation washed over me, my head feeling strangely light. I knew what it was.

"Psyche's trying to read our minds," I called to the others. "I can feel her."

"I can't feel anything," Shock responded.

"You won't if you're not telepathic," I told her. "Come on, don't stop! Keep going!"

Staying together, we hurried towards the building.

"Get down!" Iceman yelled suddenly.

We dived to the floor, narrowly avoiding a ball of fire that came scorching down through the air from above us.

"It's Pyro! He's up on top! On the roof!"

"Keep him busy!" I yelled. "The rest of you, come on!"

Iceman rolled over to avoid another flame, then fired a blast of ice up at the darkness that shrouded the top of the facility. I reached the building, and looked for a way in. There was a door, a few yards away on the left. Shapeshifter had already run past me to kick it open. Not wasting any time with caution, he forced his way inside, and I followed him. Somewhat surprisingly, there was nobody inside to meet us.

"No welcoming party?" he grumbled. "Shame on them. Where to now?"

The corridor before us stretched out for some distance then turned right. There were closed doors on either side, and a set of stairs, leading down, halfway along on the left. I tried to match this up with the brief images I'd seen while using Cerebro. None of it fit together.

"I don't know," I said. "Let's try the stairs. The high security areas will probably be below ground. That's where they'll have the Professor."

We hurried down the stairs, Shapeshifter in the lead. The staircase ended at a door, which he threw open. A blue-skinned foot caught him in the face, knocking him backwards.

"Mystique!" said Rogue.

"She's mine!" Shapeshifter snarled, wiping blood from his nose. "Keep going!"

He dived through the doorway, narrowly avoiding another swipe from Mystique. Rolling over and getting to his feet, Shapeshifter moved towards her. She stepped back slightly, keeping a safe distance between them. He moved forward again, and she moved away. I realised he was shepherding her away from the door, for the rest of us to get through. I thought about staying to help him, but I knew I couldn't. I had my own part to play. He'd just have to take his chances and manage on his own. Running through the doorway and past the two fighters, we continued our search for the Professor.

We were getting close. I could begin to sense him now.

"He's close," I said. "This way."

Pushing open another door, I found myself in a room that I recognised. It was the room I'd seen when using Cerebro, the room Magneto and his crew had been in. Where was he now?

"I don't like this," Rogue said. "Where's Magneto? It's like he's toying with us."

As if in answer to her question, the door at the other side of the room slid open, and we prepared to defend ourselves. It wasn't Magneto. It was Rat. The small rodent-like mutant narrowed his yellow eyes, raised his clawed hands, and rushed towards us.

"Rogue! He's yours!"

But Rat had other ideas. He headed straight towards me. He bared his teeth, and I wondered if he was planning to bite me. A bite from a rat could be fatal. Was it the same with him? I decided not to find out. Raising my hand, I used my telekinesis to stop him in mid-leap, and throw him across the room towards Rogue. Stunned, Rat lay on his back, and Rogue moved in, pushing her hand against his face. He screamed, and managed to break free, but not before she'd absorbed some of his power.

"Go! I can take him!" she urged us.

Shock and Gaia followed me as I ran to the door that Rat had left open. We were even closer now. The Professor had to be in one of these rooms. I could sense Magneto's presence too, also extremely close.

"Magneto's somewhere near. Shock, be ready."

Shock looked scared and anything but ready, but she held her head high and nodded, "I'm prepared."

It was then that Magneto struck. I hadn't noticed before, but all of the doors and walls of this place were constructed of metal. It shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, but it was still an unpleasant realisation when a section of wall was ripped from its holdings and smashed against my back. I fell forwards and nearly blacked out from the pain, but managed to stay conscious. I blinked and looked up as Magneto stepped calmly through the gap he'd just made in the wall.

"Sorry to intrude like this, but I don't believe I invited you here," he said.

"Shock?" I said.

"No, not really," he responded.

I looked over at the girls. Gaia was on her feet and backing away from him. Shock was not moving. I sensed her, and she was all right. Just knocked out.

__

Gaia, go and find the Professor! I telepathed.

__

What about Magneto?

I'll worry about Magneto!

Then what about Psyche?

I'll worry about her too. Just go!

Gaia turned and ran down the corridor in search of Xavier. Magneto didn't appear to notice, or care. He was more interested in me. I struggled to my feet, and faced him.

"So why are you here?" he asked. "I assume you haven't changed your mind and come to join me."

He probably knew exactly why we were here, but on the off chance that he didn't, I wasn't going to tell him.

"I'm selling these rather nice uniforms, would you like one?" I asked sarcastically, pointing to my uniform.

"No, I think I can do without one of those," Magneto said. "You are here to save Charles, I assume? It's already too late. Psyche is with him. The process should be completed any minute now."

"So I was right. You are going to use her to trap the Professor's mind."

"Oh, good, very good. I didn't expect you to figure that out. I – "

He paused in mid-sentence, and a look of confusion crossed his face. He grabbed a communicator from his belt and spoke into it, "Pyro, what's happening out there?"

There was no response.

"I think Pyro's a bit busy," I said.

"Evidently. Strange…you couldn't brought anyone but yourselves…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Two large vessels have just pulled up at the south dock. Military vessels."

"How do you know that?"

"I can tell from the concentration of metal in the hull. Who have you brought here?"

I shook my head, "I haven't brought anybody else. I don't what you're talking about."

"The military…this will make things rather difficult…"

Something occurred to me. I said, "A military unit was sent to New York City earlier today to deal with mutants. Your war has just begun."

"Yes, so it would seem. I didn't intend to fight it on my own doorstep, however."

He grabbed his communicator again, and spoke into it, "All of you pay attention. Military forces have landed on the island. Soldiers are approaching the facility. Make for the helicopter."

"You're running?" I asked. "Aren't you going to stay and fight this war you've started?"

"No, I do not feel ready. I had expected to have more recruits by now, but it seems you got in my way. I have other facilities I can work from. This is only a minor inconvenience."

At that moment a door slammed further up the corridor, and Psyche came running down towards us. Ignoring me, she shouted to Magneto, "Soldiers are everywhere! They've cut off access to the helicopter!"

A brief flash of anger crossed Magneto's face, then he regained his composure and said, "In that case, we'll have to fight our way through."

"There's too many of them! Rat's down and I can't get in contact with Pyro!"

I allowed myself a small smile. Two of our battles seemed to be going well.

"What do we do?" Psyche asked.

"We can still get out on the jet," I said. "It's on the other side of the island."

Both of them suddenly remembered I was there, and their heads snapped round to face me. Psyche looked at me with undisguised hatred, and Magneto merely said, "'We'? What are you suggesting?"

"You want to get off this island alive?" I asked. "We have to work together. You can't get to your chopper, and fighting each other won't do either of us any good."

"You die, Oculus," Psyche snarled, raising her arms.

I braced myself, but Magneto put out his hand to stop her, "No, he has a point. Fighting the military may prove too costly."

"You can control metal!" Psyche snapped. "You can stop them!"

"My power is well known," Magneto said. "I think they will be prepared for that. It is likely they are using non-metallic weapons, probably ceramic."

"Besides, you can't leave the Professor here," I said. "We have to get him out. Where is he?"

Magneto looked at Psyche, "Did you complete the mind transfer?"

"No. I was distracted by the soldiers. Xavier's still drugged, so he can't do anything."

"Get him."

"What?"

"You heard me," Magneto snapped. "We're moving out of here."

"You can't be serious! We can't possibly be joining with – with them!"

He gave her a cold stare, "It is only temporary. Now do as I say."

Psyche's fear of him overcame her desire to protest, and she hurried back the way she had come. Magneto took his communicator once more and spoke into it, "This is Magneto. The military are invading. I've declared a truce with Oculus until we can get off the island."

"This is Oculus, confirming the truce," I said, speaking into my own communicator. "Head for the jet and get it ready. We'll be there as soon as we can, once we've got the Professor."

Finally content that I was safe from immediate attack, I knelt down to check on Shock. She had partially regained consciousness, and was looking around in a confused state. From behind me came Gaia's voice, "Oculus!"

She had found Cyclops, still without his visor, and was guiding him along the passageway towards us.

"Where's his visor?" I demanded.

"Destroyed," Magneto said.

I frowned, "Hmm. Gaia, you'd better take Cyclops back to the jet, and fill him in on what's happening. Hurry, before the military can get there first."

The door we'd come through earlier was pushed open, and Shapeshifter hurried out, "What's going on? What's all this about a truce?"

He stopped when saw Magneto and me standing together.

"It's true," I said. "Ah, here's the Professor."

The Professor had not yet regained consciousness; I assumed he was still drugged. Psyche was using her power to lift his motionless form along the corridor in front of her.

"Is he all right?" Gaia asked.

"I think so," I said. "I don't sense any injuries. Shapeshifter, Shock, you two help the Professor back to the jet. Gaia, hurry!"

Gaia ran to the door, guiding the groggy, disoriented Cyclops. Shock and Shapeshifter, supporting the Professor, were behind her. That left me with Magneto and Psyche.

"Let me kill him now," Psyche hissed. "Afterwards we can go to their jet and say the military got him. Then we can kill them and take their jet."

"Yeah, that sounds like one of your plans, Mindstorm," I replied. "I know you're in there, controlling Jacqueline. I know she'd never have become Psyche without you manipulating her."

"Shut up!" she snapped. "She has become what I wish her to be. I push her in the directions I wish her to take. I will make her crush you like the insect you are."

With that, she raised her hand and I felt her power clutching at my throat, constricting my windpipe. Gasping for air, I used my own power to resist her. She lifted her other hand and her power increased. I had nothing left to counter it with. I couldn't breathe. Clutching at my throat in desperation, I sank to my knees, darkness beginning to creep in at the edges of my vision. I was dying.

The first of the explosions ripped through the silence of the corridor, blowing a hole in the side of the building, throwing debris all around us. Psyche screamed as a huge section of metal plate knocked her to the ground, abruptly silencing her. Getting my breath back, I stretched out with my senses. She was alive. Just.

"Jacqueline!" I cried, running over to try and pull her out.

She was still trapped under the metal plate. I couldn't move it away from her. It was too heavy and my power was still recovering.

"Magneto!" I snapped. "Help me get her out!"

"She just tried to kill you," he replied. "Why do you want to help her?"

"Because she's my friend! Part of her is, anyway. Get this thing off her!"

With a flick of his hand, Magneto lifted the metal plate away from the unmoving body of Psyche, and I pulled her out.

"Is she alive?" he asked.

"Just barely. I have to get her back to the jet. What _was_ that blast?"

"The military, of course. They're trying to force their way in. We must hurry."

I lifted up Psyche in my arms, and Magneto threw open the door that led back to the exit. More explosions sounded, and more wreckage and debris were thrown up. Shielding Jacqueline with my own body, I hurried after Magneto. Another explosion, bigger and louder than any of those previous, shook the very foundations of the base, and I stumbled and fell, Psyche slipping out of my arms to the floor. I dived over her body to cover her, and luckily most the falling rubble fell away from us. Magneto was up ahead, striding towards the next door. A section of the roof was collapsing, falling right down on top of him, and he was unaware of it. Obviously it wasn't made of metal.

"Magneto!" I yelled.

He couldn't hear over the sound of further explosions outside. I raised my hand and used what little power I had left, to push him away. Taken by surprise, he lost his balance, and fell forwards. The collapsing roof smashed into the floor just where he had been standing. He looked over at me and shouted something, but I couldn't make it out over the noise. I picked up Psyche once more, and hurried towards the door. Retracing the steps I'd taken to get into the facility, I found myself darting up the stairs and turning right to run to the exit. Pushing the door open with my foot, I found Magneto outside, scouring the landscape ahead.

"The soldiers haven't come this far," he said.

"The jet's over here."

"I know; I can sense it."

We hurried away from the building, towards the jet. I could hear the engine running as we approached, and the boarding ramp was down, ready for us to enter. I could begin to sense the presence of humans – soldiers – coming closer, and I quickened my pace as I ran up the ramp.

"We're in!" I yelled. "Take off!"

Bobby hit the controls and the jet took off vertically, just as the first of the soldiers burst into view. They fired a few harmless shots at the underside of the aircraft, before the engines were brought to full power, and we sped away. I sank down on to a seat to rest, allowing Psyche's unconscious body to lean against mine.

"Are we all here?" I asked.

Gaia nodded, "Except Rat."

Magneto looked over, "Where is he?"

"He wouldn't come with us. He refused to get on board. He went off after the soldiers."

"He disobeyed my orders! Where is he? Oculus, can you see him?"

I turned back to look through the view-port at the rapidly disappearing shape of the island. Using my mutated eyesight, I zoomed in on the island, focusing on the area we'd just taken off from.

"I can see the soldiers. I can't see Rat…no, wait! He's hiding in the trees, stalking them."

"Fool!" Magneto exclaimed.

"Are we going back for him?" Pyro asked.

"No. He disobeyed my orders, so he's brought this upon himself. He can get himself out of it."

Chris spoke up, "Listen, Magneto, I'm assuming you don't want to come back to the mansion with us. I'm also assuming that our truce extends until we have safely parted company. Where do you want dropped off?"

"Are we extending the truce?" said Pyro, flicking on his lighter.

"You don't really have any choice," Marie responded. "There's three of you now, and six of us."

Magneto ignored her, "I have no desire to see any mutant's blood shed today. I will extend the truce. You can drop us off at the edge of New York City."

I continued to watch the island, but in the darkness, and at an increasing distance, I was finding it difficult to make out what was going on. Three soldiers had discovered Rat, and he was fighting for his life. Ripping one of them open with his clawed hands, he dodged fire from the others, and took cover behind a rock. As they moved over cautiously to force him out, he leapt, knocking one of them to the ground, sinking his teeth into the man's neck. The soldier jerked, convulsed for a moment, then lay still. Rat avoided return fire from the remaining soldier, then kicked the man's weapon away from him. The soldier panicked, tried to run, but Rat was on him in an instant, slashing with his claws. It became too dark for me to see the soldier's final demise, but I had no doubt Rat had won.

We travelled in silence until we reached the outskirts of the city. Bobby landed the jet at an abandoned airfield, and as the landing ramp was lowered, we watched apprehensively as our enemies turned allies turned enemies once more prepared to disembark. Pyro and Mystique were first to leave. I expected Magneto to follow, but instead he walked over to me and said, "Psyche comes with us."

"No."

"No? She is one of the Brotherhood."

"Not any more. I'm taking her back to the mansion with us. I'm going to save her, bring her back to us."

"And why should I let you do that? She is invaluable to me."

"Because I saved your life? In the facility, remember?"

Chris, Chloe and the others stared at me. Magneto raised his eyebrows and thought it over.

"You did save my life," he agreed. "Is this what you ask in return?"

"Yes."

"In that case…very well. Do not expect me to be so agreeable the next time we meet."

He turned on his heel, and without giving us another glance, walked down the boarding ramp and off the jet. I knew it wasn't the last time we would meet. Although our mission had been a success – we'd rescued the Professor and Cyclops, and Jacqueline as an added bonus – our troubles were far from over. Wolverine and Storm were still in the hands of the military, who seemed determined to capture or exterminate all mutant life they encountered. Magneto had started the war – it was too late to try and stop it now – and we had to defend ourselves. Could we put an end to the conflict and bring about peace before countless lives were lost? I didn't know. I certainly couldn't think of any ideas. Hopefully the Professor would be able to come up with something once he recovered.

I cradled in my arms the body of Jacqueline, still unconscious, as the plane took off once more. With her eyes closed and her mind at rest, she looked so peaceful, so kind, so unthreatening. But Mindstorm was still in there. We had to get her out, so Jacqueline could be herself once more. I didn't know how we were going to do it, but I knew we'd do everything we possibly could.

"Neil?" said Chloe. "Did you really save Magneto's life?"

"Yes."

"But why? Isn't he our enemy?"

"Yes, he is."

"So why did you do it?" Chris demanded.

"Because Magneto isn't all bad. And – and I think it's what the Professor would have done."

A/N: Please review!


	7. The Friend That Was Lost

A/N: In response to Melissa: it's true that Chloe doesn't do a lot of fighting, but this is deliberate and is due to her personality. Given the violent content to be expected in an action-based X-Men fic, I felt it was important to have one character, Chloe, who hates fighting and violence and provides a certain perspective for the story. Chloe only uses her power to fight when she absolutely has to, and usually has to be persuaded by one of the others. It's just the kind of person she is. I don't mind the criticism since it was constructive, thanks for the feedback and please keep it coming! Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed!

Chapter Five: The Friend That Was Lost

Four of us stood around the single occupied bed in the mansion's infirmary, none of us speaking, all of us looking down at the unmoving form lying on the bed, waiting for some sign of life.

"What if she doesn't wake up?" Chloe asked nervously, breaking the silence. "What if she's gone into a coma and never wakes up?"

"Don't be stupid," said Chris scornfully, but I sensed an under-current of fear in his voice.

"She'll be fine," I reassured them. "I can sense it. Her mind's slowly waking up."

"What's going to happen when she wakes up, anyway?" asked Felicity. "The last time I saw her, she was trying to kill us. I don't understand why you're going to so much trouble to help her."

"Because she's our friend!" Chris snapped.

"Some friend! She was trying to kill you!"

"That wasn't her," I said wearily. "I thought we'd explained this to you. She's being manipulated."

"All you told me was that she's got multiple personalities. Doesn't that mean she's crazy?"

Chris tensed, and I could feel the anger growing in him.

"You don't understand," Chloe said sadly. "You weren't there the first time. When she was normal."

"So what made her go off and join Magneto, and try to kill us?"

"We've already _told _you at least twice," said Chris impatiently. "She absorbed the consciousness of another telepath, one who was pure evil. She's being manipulated by that person's mind."

Felicity looked at him, "So what are you going to do for her?"

"I don't know," I said. "We'll try talking to her at first, try to get her to fight it. If that doesn't work…I don't know. When the Professor's fully recovered from those sedatives, he might be able to help us."

"So what if she wakes up and tries to kill us?" Felicity demanded.

"She can't. Her arms are pinned down."

Chloe unhappily fingered the strong metal cuffs that held Jacqueline's wrists to the side of the bed.

"How does that make us safe?" Felicity persisted.

"Because she can't use her telekinesis without using her hands," I said. "I can't either. It takes years of experience before you can do it by thought alone, like Dr Grey."

"Who?"

"We'll tell you later."

Jacqueline's hand twitched, and I sensed her mind moving, rising into consciousness.

"Oooh, she's waking up," Chloe exclaimed.

I moved over to stand beside the bed, and knelt down to face Jacqueline. Her mouth moved, her head jerked, and her eyes snapped open.

"Where am I?" she gasped.

Terrified, she looked around, her eyes lighting on myself, Chloe, and then Chris.

"Chris! Where are we? What's happening?" she cried.

"Jacqueline?" he asked excitedly. "Is that you? Where's Psyche?"

Jacqueline looked down at herself, "Why are my hands cuffed?"

"Because you've been trying to kill us?" said Felicity tactlessly.

"Jacqueline?" I said urgently. "Are you all right? What's happened to Psyche?"

She took a deep breath and replied, "Mindstorm. Mindstorm's still unconscious. I'm only Psyche when she's awake and controlling me. I – oh God, no – some of the things I've done – while she's been in control – "

She broke down into uncontrollable sobbing, letting out all of the remorse and guilt that Mindstorm had been forcing her not to show over the last two months. Her hands strained at the cuffs; she wanted to bring them up to cover her face, to hide herself, ashamed of what she had done.

"Please, forgive me," she begged us. "For trying to kill you. I can't stop myself. I can't control my actions. Mindstorm has some power over me – when she tells me what to do, I can't resist her. She's too powerful."

"She's still asleep, right?" said Chris hurriedly. "Tell us how to get rid of her, how to get her out of your mind. Jacqueline?"

Jacqueline was shaking all over, and she whispered, "She's – waking – up – "

"Quickly, tell us! How do we get her out of there?"

Abruptly she stopped trembling, and her body still. Her eyes narrowed with hatred, as Mindstorm took control and she became Psyche once more.

"_I – will – kill – you_," she hissed, pronouncing each word as if it was a deadly curse.

"Jacqueline! Fight her! You've got to fight her! Don't let her take control!"

"She cannot fight me. I already hold total dominance over her feeble mind."

Clenching her fists and tensing her arms, Psyche pulled with all her strength against the restraints. For one moment, one terrible, awful, horrifying moment, I thought she was about to break free, but the metal cuffs held firm, and she sank back on to the bed, her face twisted in fury.

"Release me."

"So you can kill us? No chance," Felicity retorted.

"Where is Magneto?"

Chris answered this time, "He's given you over to us, in exchange for saving his life."

"Release me," she demanded. "If you do not, I will destroy this body. Your friend will suffer unimaginable pain, then she will die."

"Leave Jacqueline alone!" Chloe cried. "Why can't you let her live her own life, instead of hanging on to her like a parasite?"

"She can't hurt the body while she's chained up like this," Chris assured her. "She's bluffing."

Psyche spat at him, and missed. Then she turned to glare at me, "I will torture the other mind. The child. You know what I am talking about, don't you, Oculus?"

"Yes, I do."

"What does she mean?" asked Felicity.

"There's a third mind inside Jacqueline. A copy of herself as a seven year old. She's trapped in there, but she doesn't have any way to control Jacqueline, like Mindstorm has. I assume that's because Jacqueline didn't discover her telepathy until she was older. All she had at seven was her telekinesis, and she can't use that without control of the body."

"Why can't you just leave her alone?" Chloe said, her voice shaking with emotion. "You're a monster, Mindstorm. Let her go."

"This is your last warning!" Psyche said, ignoring all of us. "Release me from these cuffs, or the child mind will suffer agony beyond your imagining."

"We can't let her do that!" Chloe said.

Chris shook his head, "We can't let her go! She's still bluffing! Neil, isn't she?"

"I don't know," I said slowly. "Psyche, we can't release you."

"In that case – "

"Wait!" I said, putting up a hand. "There may be another way."

"What?" Chris demanded.

I ignored him. An idea was beginning to germinate in my mind. Could we? Would it work? It would come at an awful price, but it might save Jacqueline…

"Listen, Mindstorm," I said finally. "I want to make a deal with you."

"Make it quick."

Chris looked at me angrily, "Neil, you can't make a bargain with her! She's insane!"

"Shut up, Chris. For Jacqueline's sake, this might work. Mindstorm, would you leave Jacqueline's mind and let her live her own life – " 

"Never!" Psyche interrupted.

I continued unfazed, " – if we could find you a body of your own?"

This time her expression was not one of hatred. Her eyes went wide and Psyche looked at me with what looked like hope. I'd known, somehow, that this would be the one thing that Mindstorm would desire above anything else, even above getting revenge on us.

"Neil, you can't do that!" Chloe yelled. "We only just managed to stop her killing us last time!"

A surge of anger rose in me. Was Chloe really so stupid that she couldn't see what I was trying to do?

"Chloe, shut up!" I snapped. "This is the only way we can get Jacqueline back!"

Chloe's eyes widened in shock, then her expression changed to anger and she yelled back at me, "Fine! Do whatever you want! After all, Jacqueline's the one you really care about, isn't she?"

She turned and, without a backward glance, stormed out of the infirmary. Chris and Felicity watched her go, but I kept my attention fully on Psyche.

"Would you do it?" I asked her.

She didn't answer for a long time, mulling it over in her head. Eventually she nodded, "Yes. I would. If you found a body that matched my previous one sufficiently."

"Hang on, hang on," said Chris. "Even if we _can_ find somebody who's enough like her old body – there's the slight problem that there will already be somebody in possession of it. We can't let Mindstorm do to somebody else what she's doing to Jacqueline."

"I know," I sighed. "Well – I dunno, maybe we can find somebody who's recently died. Mindstorm, could you take control of a body that had recently died?"

"Yes."

"Right. Then that's what we'll do."

"Wait a minute!" said Felicity, but I wasn't listening.

I hurried to the door, on my way to the exit. I had to find a body for Mindstorm. A body for Mindstorm…

I was halted in my progress by Chris hurrying up and stepping in front of me.

"Get out of my way," I said.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded. "And what do you think you're doing, yelling at Chloe like that? I thought you loved her."

"Chris, don't you understand? This is the only way we can get Jacqueline back!"

"It's a deal with the devil, is what it is! We need to think it over more carefully before jumping right in!"

Felicity appeared beside him, also blocking my way, "How dare you shout at Chloe that way? If that was me, I'd have slapped you!"

"_Shut_ – _up_!" I yelled at both of them. "This is the only way we can get Jacqueline back!"

"You know, that's the third time you've said that," Chris retorted. "You're starting to sound like a recording."

"I noticed that too," said Felicity, nodding her agreement and folding her arms defiantly.

Fury rose in my blood. Who were these two imbeciles, these two nothings, who were trying to get in way? I raised my hands, and used my telekinesis to push them away. My fury amplified my power, and both of them slammed into the wall, hitting the floor hard. Neither moved. I strode past them and went to the elevator. Just as I got there, the elevator door slid open, to reveal a figure within. A man sitting in a wheelchair. Another one to get in my way. I raised my hand to toss him aside, when something hit me.

Like a pure, fresh, cleansing wave, Professor Xavier's power swept through my mind, and I gasped, falling to my hands and knees.

"Sir? Professor?" I asked breathlessly. "Wh-what happened?"

"She was controlling your mind," he said simply.

"Who? Mindstorm?"

"Yes. You tied down her hands to prevent her using her telekinesis, but you forgot about her power over people's minds."

"No, that's impossible!" I exclaimed. "I can sense when a telepath is in my mind!"

"You can sense when a telepath is reading your mind," he said. "But you cannot sense when you are being controlled."

"But…but Chris, Felicity…Chloe! My friends! What have I done?"

"Nothing that cannot be mended. You should not have tried to talk to Psyche without me being present. Things could have been much worse if I hadn't found you just now."

"So that whole thing, that idea about finding Mindstorm her own body," I said. "That wasn't my idea at all, was it? She implanted that in my brain and made me attack my friends!"

"Yes. She latched on to your desire to have Jacqueline back, and used it to manipulate you. Neil, you made a mistake, but that does not cancel out the good you have already done today. The actions of yourself and the others may have prevented disaster. You have my gratitude and my congratulations, but I will save that until later. I wish to speak to all of you when Scott has fully recovered. For now, I want you to go upstairs and rest. Leave Psyche to me."

"Right. I take it she can't control your mind, sir?"

"Not at her current age. When she is a few years older, her power may well be on a level to rival my own. But for now, she does not present a threat. Please, excuse me."

He wheeled his way down the corridor towards the infirmary, and I sank down on the floor, leaning against the wall, unable to comprehend what had just happened. I'd been so confident, so convinced of myself and my abilities, that I'd blinded myself to just how powerful Jacqueline was. If the Professor hadn't been able to stop me…I could have killed everybody in the mansion. It also gave me a terrifying insight into just how powerful I myself could be, if I chose to misuse my gifts in that way. Chloe…and Chris and Felicity…I jerked upright. Were they OK? Had I injured them? I got to my feet and hurried back round the corner.

They were on their feet. Felicity was holding her side, still not fully recovered from her burns, and Chris was supporting her. I hurried over, guilt washing over me as I saw the pain in her eyes.

"Felicity? Are you all right?" I asked. "I am _so_ sorry, I can't believe I did that to you! Please, forgive me, I didn't know what I was doing. It was Mindstorm! She – "

"We know," Chris snapped. "The Professor told us."

"Honestly, I'm really sorry," I repeated.

"I'm all right," Felicity said to Chris, ignoring me.

She tried to stand on her own, found it too difficult, and he ran to grab her as she fell. Felicity flashed him a grateful smile, and he tried to smile in return, succeeding only in looking awkward, "Here, I'll help you upstairs."

"Hey, are you ignoring me or what?" I asked.

Chris looked round at me. His gaze was still harsh, "No offence, Oculus, but being thrown about by somebody I thought was a friend…let's just say it doesn't really fill me with good feelings for you."

"But I – "

They'd already gone round the corner and I could hear the elevator doors opening. I sank down on to the floor again, allowing depression to wash over me. I hadn't missed the significance of Chris using my call-sign rather than my name. The extra layer of formality was a signal, a warning, that our friendship was in danger.

"But that's just stupid!" I said to the empty corridor. "It wasn't my fault! I was being controlled by Mindstorm – "

Then I remembered what the Professor had told me. It _was_ my fault. I should have known that Mindstorm was capable of controlling minds. I'd gone in there and spoken to her, without any defences in place to prevent her from manipulating one of us. 

"Damn it!" I swore, angrily kicking at the wall.

Now I had a sore foot as well. I felt a fresh surge of guilt, and did nothing to fight it. I deserved to be feeling guilty. I'd upset Chloe and hurt Felicity because of my own stupidity and arrogance. Who was I trying to fool? I was no leader. I'd deluded myself into thinking I could lead the X-Men just as well as Xavier or Cyclops, and now I had been brought back down to earth.

__

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you idiot, I told myself, _go and feel sorry for the people you've hurt_!

Where was Chloe? I stretched out with my senses and tried to locate her. She wasn't anywhere in the building. I pushed out further, and found her in the gardens. Getting to my feet, I headed for the elevator.

I found Chloe sitting on the same wooden bench we'd been occupying what seemed like a million years ago, when Chris had found us and told us the Professor wanted to see us. She was facing away from me, staring unhappily at the ground, and had obviously been crying.

"Chloe?"

She was still angry, and her expression was anything but welcoming when she looked over. I made as if to sit down next to her, but she snapped, "Don't sit down."

"Why not?"

"If you do, I'll get up and go somewhere else."

"Chloe…"

"Leave me alone."

"Listen, Chloe, I didn't mean what I said. I was being controlled by Mindstorm…no, honestly! Ask the Professor."

"I don't care if you were being controlled. The sentiments were still yours."

"What sentiments? What do you mean?"

"Your burning, overwhelming desire for Jacqueline is what I mean. I've had to sit for two months and listen to you talking non-stop about how much you want to have her back."

I was shocked, "But of course! Don't _you_ want her back?"

She hesitated, "I didn't mean it like that. Of course I want her back. But I also wanted to have some time alone when we could talk about _us_, and what we were going to do."

I noted her use of the past tense. I sat down next to her and, despite her earlier promise, she remained where she was. I sensed some of her anger had ebbed away, and she was more upset than anything else.

"Listen, Chloe, I want to tell you something," I said. "I love you, OK? Jacqueline's my friend and I'm desperate to have her back, but she's just that: my friend. Nothing more. I've never even thought about loving her instead of you. If it was you who was missing, and Jacqueline who was here, I'd have felt a thousand times worse. Chloe, I swear this is true. You can get the Professor to read my mind if you don't believe me."

She sighed, "I believe you. That is, I know you mean what you're saying."

"Pardon?"

"Neil, do you _really_ love me? True love, I mean? Can you see us getting married, having children, growing old together? Or is this just some short-term thing and you only like me because I'm a pretty face?"

"No! I love you, I swear!"

"That's all right, then."

"Why do you ask?"

"I just thought…well, because our relationship started so quickly and we seemed to fall in love at first sight…"

"You thought it wouldn't last?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I was afraid it would burn itself up and fizzle out. And – and I know I have true feelings for you, but I wasn't sure if you felt the same about me."

"I do."

"I know, but I still feel…uncomfortable."

"Why?"

"Because you're always so cold and detached that I can never tell what you're feeling!" she exclaimed, letting her frustration out in one wild burst. "The only time you show any kind of passion is when you're angry! You always know how I'm feeling because you can read my mind and my emotions, but you never show me how _you're_ feeling! When you're happy, I want to be happy with you; when you're upset, I want to comfort you; when you're loving me, I want to love you in return, but I can't! You never let me know how you're feeling, except when you're angry, and that just frightens me."

I moved closer to her and said, "Well, I'm sorry, but that's how I am. I was hated at school for being a mutant, and I got used to not showing my emotions. If there was no visible sign that I was angry or hurt, people would usually give up and leave me alone."

"You're not _at_ school any more. Well, you are, but not _that_ school. You can show your feelings now."

"I'm trying. Um – Chloe?"

"Yeah?"  
"Can _you_ see us growing up together and having a family?"

"Yes. I never wanted to talk about it before, in case you thought it was stupid and laughed at me."

"I'd never do that!"

"Yeah, I know that now."

"Do you forgive me for what I said earlier? Down in the infirmary?"

"Yes."

Chloe rested against me, putting her head on my shoulder as she always did when she was tired, and I felt relief flowing out of her. I put my arm round her and squeezed her gently.

"So what's going to happen to Jacqueline?" she asked.

"Dunno. The Professor's with her. Mindstorm can't do anything to him."

"Maybe he's going to help Jacqueline try and take back control of her mind."

I shrugged, "He didn't say. I don't think he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. I also don't think any of us realised just how dangerous Mindstorm was. We thought that once she had been taken out of her body, she was no longer a threat. We didn't realise she could influence Jacqueline from within."

"I just can't understand how a person can be so evil," Chloe said.

"It's because she received mutation implant treatment, similar to what happened to me," I said. "It warped her mind and wiped out any good personality traits she might have had. I'm glad the same thing didn't happen to my mind."

"So am I," said Chloe.

She reached up to plant a kiss on my cheek, and I knew in that moment that the breach I had opened between us, had been sealed.

We spent more than an hour sitting there together, enjoying the warmth of the afternoon, and just happy to be in each other's company, relieved that our argument had been settled so quickly and we could get back to loving. There was something about Chloe; I didn't know what it was, but her presence seemed to instil a certain warmth and peacefulness in me. It was actually more noticeable when she wasn't there; I tended to feel slightly ill-at-ease and almost incomplete when we were apart. It was amazing; I'd known this girl for little more than two months, and already she was part of me. I was glad she felt the same way about me as I felt about her. I didn't know what I would, or indeed could, have done if Chloe had decided she loved somebody else. I had to admit that I had been guilty of more or less taking her for granted these last two months, while I was busy worrying about Jacqueline. Looking back, I could see that I really should have devoted more of my attention to Chloe, to let her know just how special she was to me. She was my everything, my whole world. When I was with Chloe, feeling the warmth of our love flowing between us, nothing else mattered; Magneto, the military, Jacqueline, Mindstorm, everything else took a back seat. It was Chloe who had taken hold of my life and given me reason to keep on living, when I had been on a downward spiral of depression after finding out the truth about my parents, when I was ready to give up and waste away. In doing that, she'd filled a vital gap in my life, and if that were ever taken away…I knew I couldn't live without Chloe.

"Where's Chris?" she said dreamily, as she gently lifted a tiny spider out of her hair, and set it down on the ground.

"He's with Felicity."

I could sense the two of them in the mansion. I knew I'd have to go and find them and make a proper apology for my actions, and hope they forgave me. Obviously I wasn't as close to either of them as I was to Chloe, but I was fairly certain that Chris would accept my apology and repair our friendship. Though we weren't particularly fond of each other, we'd been through a lot together, and there was a bond of sorts between us, something that – I hoped – could never be severed. As for Felicity, I didn't know what to think. I hardly knew her, and had no idea how she'd react, but hopefully I could talk to her and sort it out.

I looked down at Chloe, still resting against me, and pushed out my senses to feel the emotions running between us. Chloe's love: warm, caring, affectionate, cuddly, and my love: protective, passionate, burning like a fierce, unquenchable flame. Chloe. My everything. My whole world. I solemnly vowed to myself that I would never hurt her again, either physically or psychologically.

If I had only known that within 24 hours I would be forced to break my vow.


	8. Coming of Age

Chapter Six: Coming of Age

Once again we met in the Professor's office. The four of us were present, with Bobby and Marie, plus Cyclops –reacquainted with his ruby-tinted sun-glasses – and Xavier himself.

"There are a number of things I would like to talk about," the Professor began. "First of all, I would like to thank all of you six, for bringing Scott and myself back safely from Magneto's sanctuary. You showed great courage and resourcefulness, and I am confident that you would – and indeed will – be able to do the same again."

Chris frowned, "What do you mean, Professor?"

"I'll come back to that in a moment," said Xavier. "Secondly, your friend Jacqueline. I've been speaking to her; I can use my power to block Mindstorm's control over her, but not indefinitely. The only way she can return to a normal life is if Mindstorm is permanently removed from inside of her. Unfortunately, I can't yet think of a way to do that."

"Is she still down in the infirmary?" asked Chloe.

"Yes. I've had her sedated, so she can't use her power against us. She shouldn't wake for several hours, so that should give us some time to plan what we are going to do next."

"So what do you have in mind?" Cyclops asked.

"I think our first priority is to find Wolverine and Storm," the Professor answered. "We know they've been captured by the military, but we don't know where they're being held. We also have no idea of the whereabouts of Nightcrawler. It seems he hasn't been captured, which suggests either he escaped, or he was killed and the military are covering it up."

"Can't you use Cerebro to find them?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, I have not yet fully recovered from the sedatives Magneto gave me. I can't use Cerebro in this condition. It is, however, imperative that we act as swiftly as possible. So I must ask the six of you if you would undergo another rescue mission."

"What about Cyclops? Is he coming with us?"

Scott shook his head, "Magneto destroyed my visor. Without it I can't be of any assistance. I can construct a new one, but it will take time. I will help on the planning side of things."

"I want to make one thing very clear – two, actually," said Xavier. "First, this mission will be on a volunteer basis. Due to the danger involved, and your relative inexperience, I can't order any of you to go. Those of you who wish to be part of this rescue, please raise your hand."

Chris' hand was first in the air, and Felicity followed his lead. Chloe and I both raised our hands together; I noticed hers was trembling slightly. Glancing to my right, I could see Bobby and Marie both had their hands up as well. Xavier smiled, "Thank you. The second point I would like to make is that this is a rescue mission. We are not setting out to kill or injure anybody. Magneto has already done enough damage; this must _not_ be seen as an act of war. Avoid confrontations if you can, and only attack military personnel if you yourselves are in danger, and there is no other choice. I cannot stress how important it is that we are seen to be rescuing our friends, and nothing more."

"Professor, _can_ we stop the war?" Marie asked.

"I honestly don't know," he sighed. "There are too many factors which could come into play. Magneto will be doing everything he can to keep the conflict going. The leader of this army unit, Colonel Lutowski – I've heard of him before, but never met him. I know he has no love for mutants, and will be very reluctant to accept a peaceful solution."

"Another General Stryker?" said Bobby.

"Perhaps not as extreme as Stryker, but potentially every bit as dangerous. Now, I said earlier that we don't know where Storm and Wolverine are being held. We do, however, have somewhere to start looking. The attack on Magneto's island leads me to believe that Lutowski's unit was – and hopefully still is – operating out of a small military base near the coast. I suggest you start your search there."

"We have downloaded schematics of the base, which you can study in detail later," said Cyclops. "We'll also give you a picture of Lutowski, so you know what he looks like. Rumour has it he and Stryker have worked together in the past, so there's a good chance they share the same attitude towards mutants. I'd recommend staying out of his way."

"When do we leave?" I said.

"As soon as you're ready," said the Professor. "I know this may seem like a huge responsibility, and you may be wondering if I am asking too much of you too soon, but I am confident you can do it. Sometimes youthful daring and guile can be more useful than the experience of old men like myself. You have already shown that you can manage on your own; you are coming of age, some of you more quickly than others. You will be adults soon, the next generation of the X-Men, and I'm certain our future is safe in your hands."

A little over an hour later, we were in the jet, prepping for take-off. I was adjusting the gloves of my uniform, when I sensed Chris coming over to sit next to me. He was uncomfortable, clearly wanting to get something off his chest.

"I assume you'll be taking command of the mission again," he said.

I shrugged, "Unless you want to."

"No, I think you're the better choice. Listen, Neil…"

"Mmm?"

"About what happened with Psyche…"

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "Forget about it. I was angry at the time, but it wasn't your fault. I won't hold it against you."

"Actually, it _was_ my fault," I said. "I should have remembered that she'd be capable of controlling our minds. I didn't do anything to prevent it."

"Neither did any of us," he said. "It was a shared mistake; you can't blame yourself. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I don't have a problem, and we can be friends again."

"Good. I wanted to talk to you about the mission. How do you think we should go about it?"

"Dunno. I was having a look at the schematics Cyclops gave us – the best way in seems to be the south entrance. If Storm and Wolverine are being held at this base – and there's no guarantee they are – I reckon they'll be in one of the secure areas in the underground levels. Getting there won't be easy."

"It won't," I agreed. "After what the Professor said about trying to avoid fighting if at all possible, I was thinking we could split into two groups. One group causes a distraction and gets the attention of whatever guards might be present, and the second group sneaks in to grab our friends."

"How do we divide up?"

"I'm not exactly sure. The second group needs people with good intrusion skills. That's you – obviously, since you can change into liquid – and me; with my eyes and my telepathy I can keep us away from guards. The distraction group needs people with the more spectacular gifts: Chloe can do her usual thing with the animals; Felicity can fire bolts of lightning; Bobby can freeze any object he likes. And Marie should come with us; if either of us goes down, she can absorb our powers and go on in our place."

"Have you talked this over with them?"

"Not yet. Do you think it'll work?"

"Too early to say. When we land, you'll need to take a good look at the building, outside and in, and we can work our plan around what's there."

Bobby – Iceman, I reminded myself; we used call-signs instead of names when we were on a mission – had assured me that the jet's stealth technology would hide it from any military radar, but I was still prepared for an unfriendly welcome when we stepped off the boarding ramp. It seemed, however, that he'd been right. The spot where we had landed was devoid of anything but a few trees and rocks. The only noise I could hear was the distant sound of waves lapping against the shore.

"OK," I said to the rest. "I've outlined the plan to you, so now we split into two groups. We're approaching from the south side of the base, towards the least heavily guarded entrance. I've had a look at the inside and outside of the facility, and it looks as if this is where our army unit is based. I didn't have time to scan the whole building, so I couldn't see if Wolverine or Storm were there. When we get closer I'll hopefully be able to sense their location."

"If they're still alive," said Shapeshifter.

"I think they will be. There wouldn't be any point in capturing them if they were just going to be killed."

He shrugged. I continued, "Remember what the Professor said. Don't hurt or kill anybody unless you really, absolutely have no other choice. By that I mean if your own life is at risk. If everything goes according to plan, we'll find our friends and bring them back here. I'll telepath a message to you all when we've found them."

"What about our communicators?"

"Too risky. The military will intercept radio messages. OK, everybody ready? Let's go."

Shapeshifter and Rogue followed me as I took the easiest route to the building. I couldn't feel the presence of any humans close by, so there was no need for stealth yet. I sensed Gaia, Iceman and Shock moving off on a slightly different path, heading for the east side of the base. Staying out of sight and using their powers to cause a distraction, I hoped they'd be able to lure most, if not all, of the soldiers away from the south entrance. As Gaia moved out of my sight, I felt a sudden stab of fear, a sudden worry that I might never see her again. I pushed it down. It was the same panic I always had when we were on a mission. I sighed. We'd only been apart for five seconds and I was already missing her. I forced myself to concentrate on what I was doing, and stop worrying about Gaia. She knew how to take care of herself.

As we got closer to the facility, I could begin to sense humans. I put out my hand to stop the other two.

"Company?" said Rogue.

"Soldiers," I whispered. "Three of them, a few yards ahead."

"Must be a patrol," said Shapeshifter.

"Sshh! They'll hear you!"

He lowered his voice and said, "Do we go round them or knock them out?"

"Go round. Keep quiet and follow me."

Staying low, I picked a route that would lead us past the patrol. As we moved along, as quietly as possible, I stole a glance to the side, forcing my vision through a couple of trees, to get a look at the soldiers. One of them was looking alert, glancing around in all directions, checking for enemy presence. I assumed they were guarding against any mutants who might try to do exactly what we were doing now. The other two soldiers looked to be slightly less conscientious; one was yawning and leaning against a tree; the last was smoking a cigarette and reading a small pocket book by the light of the early evening sun.

We left them behind as we got closer to the base. I pushed out my senses to find out where the other three X-Men were. They were approaching the east door, looking for a hiding place; Iceman was leading; Gaia was worrying about me, hoping I was safe; Shock was thinking about Shapeshifter and wondering if he – 

I cut off my power. I had no right to intrude into her private thoughts. I returned my attention to the matter at hand. Ahead of us was the south entrance to the base. I pushed my vision forward to zoom in on the door. A group of five or six soldiers stood on guard, their weapons held at waist height, clearly much more awake than the three we'd just passed in the trees. With them were three big Alsatian dogs, chained to a post, sniffing keenly at the air.

Damn. This hadn't occurred to me. I couldn't use my power to sense animals, so I'd been unaware of their presence. This made things more difficult. I wished I hadn't sent Gaia away with the other group. The dogs would sniff us out and I couldn't use my power against them.

__

Gaia? I telepathed, _dogs. We need you over here._

I pushed out and read her mind for a reply. There was nothing.

__

Gaia?

Again no response. I frowned.

__

Iceman? Shock? Is Gaia all right?

I couldn't get a response from them either. I could sense their minds, but I couldn't seem to read their thoughts. What had happened to them?

"Something's gone wrong," I whispered. "I can't seem to communicate with the others."

"Is Iceman OK?" asked Rogue urgently.

"I can't tell. Let me try again."

__

Gaia? Iceman? Shock?

Once again there was nothing.

"I think they're unconscious," I said.

"You mean they've been found?"

"Must have been."

"Is Iceman all right?"

"I don't know."

"Do we go and help them?" Shapeshifter asked. "Or do we press on?"

"We can't get in without them doing their part. We can't attack the guards. We'd better go and see what's happened to our friends."

I tried to find a path that would lead round to the east side, without going too close to the guards. Picking our way through the undergrowth, we found the path our friends had taken.

"They came this way," Shapeshifter whispered. "Where are they now?"

"I can sense them up ahead. Don't move; I'm going to take a look."

I stretched forward with my vision, moving in to the spot where I could sense my three unconscious friends. It was getting dark, but I could still make them out. They were lying on the ground, unmoving, surrounded by armed soldiers and excited, barking dogs.

"They've been captured," I hissed to the others.

"How? What happened?"

"I don't know. Wait a minute…"

Two other figures had appeared at the edge of the group of soldiers. One of them prodded Shock's unmoving form with his toe, and the second spat down at Gaia's body. A cold lump began to form in my heart. I recognised both of these men. The first was Colonel Lutowski; I knew him from the picture Cyclops had shown us. The second was a face I'd never thought I would see again…

Rat.

What was he doing here, and why was he working with Lutowski? I realised now what must have happened. Rat, with his mutated sense of smell, must have known of the approach of my friends, who had been completely unprepared for the resulting attack. Which meant – which meant – Rat would be able to smell _us_ too!

"Back to the jet!" I hissed. "Now!"

"What?!" Shapeshifter gasped. "What about Shock and Gaia and – "

"I don't have time to explain! _Now_!"

Grabbing his arm, I pulled his resisting form back in the direction of the aircraft. Rogue followed more willingly, but was still casting glances back in the direction our friends had gone; I could sense she was terribly afraid for Iceman's safety.

Once we were back in the clearing where we'd landed the jet, Shapeshifter pulled his arm away from me and snapped angrily, "Now suppose you tell me why you dragged us back here?!"

"Rat," I said. "Rat was there. He smelled the others and they were ambushed. If we'd stayed there a moment longer, he'd have smelt _us_, and they'd have been all over us."

"What's Rat doing _here_?" Rogue asked in surprise. "I thought he got left behind on Magneto's island!"

"And I thought this Colonel guy was supposed to hate mutants!" Shapeshifter added.

"I don't know, so don't ask me," I said. "Rat must have made some deal with him."

"Does that mean Magneto is here too?"

"I don't think so. From what Magneto said, I think he's left Rat to fend for himself. Hence why Rat's joined up with this army unit."

"So what's our plan?" asked Rogue.

"Same as before," I told her. "Get our friends back. Only now there are more of them to rescue, less of us to do it, and Rat has been thrown into the equation."

"Can't you control his mind?" Shapeshifter suggested. "Like – like Mindstorm did with you?"

"I don't know. I'm probably capable of it. I've never done it before."

"Now would be a good time to start."

"I've never learned how. And besides, I think I've got a better idea."

"Let's hear it."

I took a deep breath, "All right. Question: has Rat ever seen you change into liquid?"

"No, I don't think so."

"OK. That's how you're going to get in there. Chances are he'll still be able to smell you, but won't be able to find you. All he'll find is an innocent-looking puddle on the floor, and he won't know it's you."

"Right…what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find somewhere I can hide, and guide you through the building. I'll use my X-ray vision to look through the walls, and we'll communicate via my telepathy. Yes, I know I've got the safe, easy job, but that's the way it has to be. If I set foot in that building, he'll smell me at once."

Shapeshifter opened his mouth to make a smart remark to that, but Rogue spoke first, "What do you want me to do?"

"My plan was for you to borrow Shapeshifter's powers and go with him," I said. "I know you try not to use your power if you can avoid it – would that work?"

Rogue looked uncomfortable, "I can't really control my power the way I'd like. It's dangerous to the person I'm absorbing from. And it kind of messes with my mind as well; it leaves a – well, an imprint of the person in my brain, and sometimes it's hard for me to keep control."

"I see. In that case, I can't order you to use your power. You'll have to decide for yourself."

"I'll do it," she said firmly. "If it's going to help Bobby – I mean Iceman – I'll do anything."

"All right. Shapeshifter, are you happy with this?"

"I suppose so. Does it hurt?"

Rogue said, "As long as I don't touch you for too long, it shouldn't. OK, hold still. Here goes."

She tugged off one of her gloves, and touched her hand gently to Shapeshifter's face. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Shapeshifter gasped, and his body began to shake. As I watched, the texture of his face began to change, and his shaking became more violent. His mouth gaped open, and I could sense he was in pain. His face had changed even more drastically now; strange, cracked lines had begun to spread from the point where Rogue was touching him. He closed his eyes, screwing them up against the pain.

"Rogue," I warned. "It's killing him!"

"I know…" she said. "One second more…"

She removed her hand, and Shapeshifter gasped, losing his balance and falling forwards. I caught him, and helped him to stand upright. His face returned to normal, and the pain subsided.

"You OK?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll live. Just the shock, you know?"

"Rogue, did it work?"

She nodded, "I've borrowed his powers. I don't know how long they'll remain, so we'd better get started."

"All right. I'll stay here with the jet and guard it. We can't fly it without Iceman or Storm. I'll send you telepathic messages to guide you. Rogue, if you want to say anything to me, just think it in your own mind, and I'll be able to read it. If you want to say anything to Shapeshifter, just do the same thing, and I'll forward it to him."

"OK," she said.

"Good luck," I replied.

Shapeshifter flashed me the cocky, arrogant grin he was well-known for, and changed. For a split second the shape of his body existed in watery form, then it splashed down on to the ground and he formed a puddle. Rogue watched apprehensively, uncertain about using this unfamiliar power, then she did the same. Although they were both still there, in liquid form, I felt strangely alone.

__

Can you both hear me? I sent.

__

Loud and clear, Shapeshifter responded.

__

Yeah. This is weird, said Rogue.

__

You get used to it, he told her, _OK, Oculus, which way?_

Straight ahead. I'll tell you when to change course.

See you later.

I walked backwards and crouched in the shadows underneath the jet's wing. I knew I had no chance of hiding if Rat happened to smell me, but hopefully I was far enough away that he wouldn't be able to. He must have known that there were more of us here somewhere, but with any luck he was searching somewhere else. I focused my eyes on the two liquid forms moving down the path away from me, and watched their progress. They moved in a straight line towards the building, flowing cleanly through shrubs and around rocks and trees that would have provided an obstacle had they been in solid form.

__

The entrance is dead ahead, I told them, _but the guards will see you. I'm trying to find another entrance you can use; a ventilation duct or something. Hey, there's one. A grille in the wall, a bit to the left of the door. Do you see it?_

No, said Rogue.

__

I see it, Shapeshifter answered, _this way._

The two of them flowed silently across the ground, virtually invisible in the dim light, and through the grille. I pushed my eyes beyond the wall to see what was inside the base. At the same time I pushed out my telepathic senses, trying to find out where our friends were. I could sense one mutant, outside the east entrance – I assumed it was Rat. My senses stretched out further, until I could feel the presence of three more mutants. Two of them I couldn't identify – too far away – but the last was Gaia. I knew her mental profile well enough to be able to tell.

__

They're quite far away from you, I said, _still unconscious, I think. Go down the corridor ahead until I tell you to turn off_.

They moved off along the corridor. I forced my senses out further, trying to find Wolverine and Storm. Straining with the effort, I pushed until I could sense the interior of the entire facility. There! That had to be them! On the lowest underground floor, two mutants. I couldn't read their minds; obviously they weren't conscious. They were probably being kept sedated to prevent them from escaping; I didn't imagine this facility would have held the pair of them for very long.

__

Turn right, I said, _then take a left, and keep going till you reach the elevator. I'll get back to you then._

OK.

I still wasn't sure how we were going to do this. If Shapeshifter and Rogue found our friends – how were they going to get them out? If they could be awoken, then their combined powers should make an escape fairly easy. If they couldn't…it would be extremely difficult, and I wasn't sure what our plan would be. I decided to worry about that when they had actually made contact with them.

__

Take the elevator to the 2nd underground level. That's where Gaia and the others are. I've also found Wolverine and Storm; they're on the 3rd underground level.

I'll need to change back to solid to operate the lift, came Shapeshifter's voice, _anybody coming?_

No. Do it quickly!

He changed back into his usual shape, hit the lift button, then transformed into a liquid once more. The elevator descended to the 2nd below-ground floor, and they flowed out through the door. I was about to give them further directions, when – 

Pain. 

One of my friends was suffering pain, pain so intense that I could almost feel it myself, along the telepathic link. I stretched out further with my mind, trying to find out where it had come from.

__

Hang on, you two, something's up, I said, as my senses homed in on the one who was suffering.

No. _No_!!

It was Chloe. It was Chloe who was in pain. I could almost hear her voice in my mind, screaming for mercy, as more agony was heaped upon her. She was screaming for mercy, screaming for rescue, screaming for me.

I severed the telepathic link between myself, Shapeshifter and Rogue. Getting to my feet, I began running towards the facility. I had to get to Chloe. She was my whole world, my everything. Nothing else mattered. I wasn't thinking straight; I wasn't thinking at all; I was being driven by an age-old animal instinct; the oldest of all; the instinct to protect the one I loved.

I knew Rogue and Shapeshifter were in there, and I was supposed to be helping them; I knew Iceman and Shock, and Storm and Wolverine were in there too, and they all needed my help, but those thoughts melted away as I heard Chloe's scream in my head once more. They were people I'd known in another time, another place, people who were no longer part of my world. My world was Chloe, and without her my life was meaningless, endless pain and suffering. I hurried towards the building to rescue the girl who was my life, my entire being.

I didn't even notice the guards as they stepped out of the trees in front of me. The first one hit me in the back of the knees with his weapon, knocking me on to the ground. The second pinned his knee in my shoulder blades, and the third brought his weapon down on the back of my head. As I fell into the void of unconsciousness, I heard Chloe screaming again.

_Chloe………_


	9. A Father's Legacy

Chapter Seven: A Father's Legacy

When I woke, my first thought was of Chloe. Where was she? Was she all right? My eyes snapped open and I tried to stand up. I couldn't. My wrists and ankles were stuck. I looked down; I was being held to a table by two pairs of cold steel manacles.

"Doctor, this one's awake," came a voice.

"Ah, good," came another.

I looked over to where the voices had come from. A short, bearded man in a white lab coat was making his way across the room towards me. Three or four soldiers stood nearby, their hands resting on their weapons, watching me closely. There were two or three other tables, identical to the one I was lying on, but they appeared to be unoccupied.

"Where am I?" I demanded.

One of the soldiers pointed his gun at me and snapped, "Keep quiet, freak!"

The man in the white coat had reached my table, and was fiddling about with a couple of objects sitting on a wheeled trolley by my feet. I stretched out with my senses, trying to find my friends. I could sense mutants, fairly close by – I concentrated on trying to find out who they were.

Shapeshifter was one; I knew his mind well enough to be able to identify him. There were three close to him; I assumed those were three of the six of us who had set out. Pushing out further, I could sense two more, then a third, then a fourth, but I couldn't tell who they were. 

I returned my attention to the room I was in. I had to be inside the military base somewhere. This room looked like a laboratory of some kind. Where was Chloe? Was she elsewhere in the building? Had they been torturing her? If I ever found out who was responsible for causing her so much pain, I would _kill_ them. 

"Ah," the scientist said, flicking through a file. "You are the Rosiçky child, yes?"

"What?"

"You are Davor Rosiçky's son?"

"Yes. Who are you? What am I doing here?"

He ignored me and continued to read from the file. I looked at the name tag on his lab coat. Dr Elias Van Gaarde. The name meant nothing to me. Why was he asking about my father?

"Your father was the geneticist who implanted your mutations, yes?" he asked.

"Yes. Where are my friends? What have you done with them?"

"I will ask the questions. Where is your father now?" 

"Dead."

"Dead? How?"

"I killed him."

He raised his eyebrows, "I see. I worked with your father for many years in the field of mutant genetics. He and I, and our other research associate were three of the greatest minds ever to study mutation in detail."

I said nothing. I had no love for my father. My mother had died in childbirth and the only thing Davor had ever done for me was provide half of my DNA. Obsessed by his research, he'd taken me as a new-born and subjected me to his experimentation. Now I was something I was never meant to be. It was this knowledge that had sunk me into a well of deep depression, and led me to consider ending my pointless, ruined life. Chloe had pulled me out of it, the only person in the world who could have done so; her love had sealed the wounds in my heart, and given me a new lease of life.

The scientist, Van Gaarde, had reached the end of the file, and set it down on the table next to mine

"You wished to know what was going on here," he said. "Very well, I will tell you. Colonel Lutowski has hired me to conduct research into mutant biology, with the goal of creating weapons specifically designed to kill mutants, without harming humans. You are now one of my test subjects."

"Is that what you were doing to my girlfriend?" I demanded angrily. "Testing one of your weapons on her? Is that why she was screaming?"

"Oh, you are in love with that one, are you?" he said. "Interesting."

I allowed my anger to rise, "If you're the one responsible, I swear I will not rest until I've torn you limb from limb and – "

He ignored me again, and turned to the soldiers, "Bring in the female subject, the one I was working on before. We will test the two of them together."

Two of the soldiers left the room and Van Gaarde turned back to face me, "I'm afraid you will not get the chance to enact your revenge on me. You and your girlfriend – and your other mutant friends – will be dead. I must tell you, though, it will not be a quick or peaceful death. The pain will be excruciating. You must hope that my research progresses quickly and we can develop our weapons with no major delays. That way you will die sooner."

"You bastard," I spat. "I swear I'll kill you for what you did to her!"

"Save your threats. They are meaningless. Ah, here she is."

I looked over to the door. Chloe, her face pale, barely conscious, was being half-dragged, half-carried into the laboratory by two of the soldiers. Her eyes were almost closed and she was not making any conscious movements, but she must have been awake, since I sensed her emotions changing when she saw me: relief that I was alive, but despair that I too had been captured. She was powerless to resist as the two soldiers dropped her on to one of the other tables, and put her wrists and ankles into the restraints. Van Gaarde picked up an object from the trolley, and moved over towards her. The object was a small cylinder, about ten inches long, and two inches in diameter, with an opening at one end. I didn't know what it was, but Chloe clearly recognised it, as she began to struggle weakly against her bindings, and moan, "No…"

"This is our first prototype weapon," Van Gaarde explained to me. "It emits a special type of ultra violet radiation that attacks certain cells in a mutant's body and causes them extreme pain. It is entirely harmless to humans. As yet it does not cause any lasting damage to the target – that development is the purpose of these tests. Observe."

He pointed the device at Chloe, and activated it. I couldn't see any visible beam, but of course UV light wasn't visible. Chloe's body stiffened and she screamed, arching her back and trying to twist out of the path of the weapon. 

"Turn it off!" I yelled. "Turn it off, you sick bastard!"

Van Gaarde would not. Chloe continued to writhe and shriek, until her body collapsed and she stopped moving. He clicked off the device and looked at his watch, "Subject lost consciousness due to pain after twelve seconds. Still not fast-acting enough. When she next awakes, we will try again."

I fought against my own restraints. If I could get a hand free, I could use my telekinesis, and Van Gaarde would be a dead man. Everything the Professor had ever told me about not harming humans had gone straight out of my mind. If I ever got the chance to kill this man, I would do it. And not quickly.

At that moment the door was opened, and a man looked in, "Dr Van Gaarde, the Colonel would like to see you."

"Very well. Take these two back to the holding cells. This one's a telekinetic, so keep your weapons on him at all times."

The scientist went to the door and left the room. One of the guards unfastened Chloe's restraints and lifted her inert body over his shoulder. Two of the others kept their guns trained on me, while the fourth undid my cuffs. I tried to raise my arm to throw them back, but my limbs were stiff and sore, and I couldn't move fast enough. I was grabbed and pushed towards the door. The man carrying Chloe led us off to the right and down a corridor, stopping at a door on the left. He punched a code into a keypad beside the door, and it slid open. Chloe was thrown inside, and I was pushed after her. As I hit the floor within, I heard the door sliding shut behind me.

"Neil! Are you OK?" came a voice.

My eyes adjusted to the dim light, and I saw Chris, leaning over me, helping me to my feet. Felicity was kneeling by Chloe's side, gently cradling her head, trying to get her to wake. There was a single bed in the corner; Marie was lying on her side, unconscious, and Bobby was hunched anxiously over her, sitting on the room's only chair. To the right was a door, lying open; I could see it lead to a small lavatory.

"Hey," I said, feeling a sore spot in my knee where I'd hit the floor. "They got all of us?"

Bobby nodded morosely, "They were all over us before we could do a thing. They must have known we were coming."

"It was Rat," I said. "He's working with them; don't ask me why. He must have smelled your approach."

"What about you?" he said.

"Guards caught me out in the forest."

"Couldn't you sense them?"

"They had dogs," I lied. "I can't sense the presence of animals."

I wasn't quite ready to let the rest of them know quite how badly I had lost control. Driven almost crazy by Chloe's suffering, I'd forgotten about everything else and gone in alone. But I didn't need to tell anyone that.

"That's why your telepathy was cut off, then," said Chris. "We didn't know where to go, and Rogue began to lose control of my power. We tried to hide, but we were found."

"What do they want with us?" Felicity asked. "Why haven't they just killed us?"

I sighed, "Because they want to conduct experiments on us, so they can develop weapons to kill mutants."

"Tell me you're joking," said Chris.

"I'm not. If we can't find a way out of here, all we've got to look forward to is suffering and seeing each other suffering, then death."

"Then might escape be a good idea?" said Felicity.

"It just might," said Chris. "I can't see how we're going to do it, though."

"Can't you change to liquid and get out?"

"No. The door's airtight."

"So how come we're breathing?"

He pointed above us, "Ventilation shaft. We can't escape that way either. It's too small to crawl through, and I can't flow upwards as a liquid."

"There must be a way," I said.

"Maybe the Professor will use Cerebro to find us, and send help," said Bobby.

"Send who? Cyclops without his visor? I wonder if…"

"If what?" Chris asked.

"Nah, forget it," I said. "I had an idea, but it was stupid."

"It's better than no idea at all, which is what we have right now. Tell us."

"Oh, I just thought…I just thought Magneto might help us. If there was some way we could contact him."

Bobby shook his head, "Why would he save us? We're his enemies."

"Yes, but if anyone will want to stop the experimentation going on here, it's him. It's a threat to every mutant on the planet."

"But how can we let him know what's happening?"

"I have no idea. I can't telepath messages over anything greater than a mile or so. I doubt he's that close."

"Maybe the Professor will contact him for us."

"I don't think we can rely on any outside help," said Chris. "We have to come up with a plan to do this ourselves."

"I can't see it," said Bobby. "We need to wait for the military to make a mistake." 

"They've already made one," I said.

"What?"

"Putting all of us in the same room. This way we can plan our escape together."

"We still have to find Wolverine and Storm," Felicity reminded me.

"You're right. Once I regain my strength, I'll reach out and try to sense where they are."

Felicity spoke up, "Can't we steal a radio and try to contact Magneto?"

"I dunno, what's his phone number?" Chris asked sarcastically.

She shrugged, then turned to look at the door, "Hey, Neil, can't you use your power to open this door?"

I went over to kneel by the door, and had a look at the interior of the lock.

"There's an electronic circuit holding it closed," I said. "I can't make any sense out of it."

"Hey, Felicity," said Chris. "Can you fire an electric pulse at the lock, maybe short circuit it and open the door?"

"That might work. It might also screw up the door so it can never be opened."

"There's got to be a way out of here!" Chris said angrily, standing up and pacing round the room. "There's got to be something we haven't thought of yet, something they've overlooked!"

"Once we get out of the room," I said. "Things start to look a lot better. We can use our powers to defeat any soldiers that we come up against. Rat might be a problem, but I think we can handle him. Once we find Storm and Wolverine, we can find an exit and get out of here. With any luck, they haven't found the jet. If they have, we find another way to get home."

"But we're still faced with the problem of getting out of the room," said Bobby. "And what about these anti-mutant weapons that are being developed? Shouldn't we destroy them?"

"Yeah…" I sighed. "You're right…how's Marie, by the way?"

"She's out cold. I think she's all right. They hit her over the head pretty hard, according to Chris."

"Chloe's the one I'm worried about," I said. "They've been torturing her with one of these 'weapons'. I don't know how she's holding up."

"She seems OK," said Felicity. "I'm no doctor, but I don't think she's been injured."

She continued to nurse Chloe's head in her lap, trying to make her as comfortable as possible. Chris was still pacing the room, angrily staring at the door, desperately trying to think of a way out. Bobby was leaning over the bed, carefully pushing Marie's hair away from her eyes. Suddenly a thought came to me. Marie…

"I've got it!" I exclaimed suddenly, causing them to look up in surprise.

"What? An escape plan?" said Felicity excitedly.

"I think so."

"Just tell us what to do," said Chris.

I turned to face Bobby, "Am I right in thinking that Rogue once absorbed Magneto's powers?"

"Yes. She didn't want to; he made her do it."

"And that means there is an imprint of Magneto left on her mind?"

"Yes…where are you going with this?"

"This is largely guesswork, but I reckon if I can use my power to get inside Marie's head, I can use Magneto's imprint to communicate with him."

"Would that work?"

"It should do. It's like he's left behind a tiny part of himself inside Rogue. Magneto has his own telepathic abilities, fairly weak, but I should be able to contact him."

"When do we start?"

"As soon as Marie wakes up, assuming she's willing to do this."

Bobby held up a hand, "Hang on, I see a problem with that plan. In order to get inside her mind, you've got to make physical contact with her body, right?"

"Yeah…"

"If you make physical contact with Marie, her powers will activate and she'll start to absorb yours. If it takes too long, you'll be killed."

"Damn. That is a problem. I wonder if there's a way around it."

"Can't you touch her with your gloves, or something?" said Felicity.

"No. Our bodies have to come into contact. Wait a minute…I've got an idea. Bobby, can you create a thin layer of ice between us, thin enough that we can still make contact? That should slow down her power."

"I can try."

"OK. We'll just have to wait until she wakes up."

It was another half hour before Marie regained consciousness. During that time I was worried that Van Gaarde would appear and drag us out to his laboratory again, having finished his meeting with Lutowski, but the door did not open. I wasn't sure what to make of the scientist's claims that he'd worked with my father. From what the Professor had told me, Davor Rosiçky had worked alone. Van Gaarde had mentioned himself, Rosiçky and one other. I wondered who that was.

It also seemed as if Lutowski was fiercely determined to swiftly end this war against mutants. I was chilled by the thought that he was developing weapons specially designed to kill us. I'd experienced hatred and rejection as a mutant, but I'd never imagined there would be people out there who wanted to utterly exterminate me and my kind. It was fair to say that some mutants – people like Mindstorm, Toad, and Magneto – gave us a bad reputation, but to create weapons to wipe out an entire race of people…it was inhuman. Some mutants – most of us, in fact – were nothing more than innocent children, who couldn't help the fact that they'd been born different. I was beginning to understand why Magneto felt the way he did. People like Lutowski, Van Gaarde or Stryker would never be swayed by the Professor's overtures of peace, and were doing everything they could to kill us – what could we do but fight to protect ourselves?

Marie awoke with a start, her hand instinctively jerking out to grab the nearest person, who was Bobby. He was still wearing his gloves, so she didn't come into contact with his skin, and he put his other gloved hand gently on her shoulder, calming her, "It's OK, you're OK…"

"Where are we?"

"Still in the base. We've been captured, all of us."

She sat up and looked around the room. Chris and Felicity were sitting in the corner together, talking in low tones. I was kneeling beside Chloe, probing her mind, sensing with relief that she was going to wake up soon.

"What are we going to do?" Marie asked urgently.

"We have a plan," I told her. "I'm going to use my power to go inside your mind and contact Magneto."

"Why him?"

"Because he's the only one who can help us. I think I can convince him that it's in his best interest to stop what's going on in this base. Whether or not he'll free us at the same time, I don't know, but it's the only thing we can do. That is, if you're OK with it."

"Sounds all right. But will it work? Can you contact Magneto from inside my head?"

"I think so. From what I know about telepathy – the Professor's been giving me lessons, as you know – it should work."

"I'll do it. Now?"

"Whenever you're ready. Bobby?"

He nodded, "Go for it."

Marie swung her legs off the bed, and knelt down on the floor beside me. I moved my hand towards her face, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Bobby, concentrating hard. He fired a thin jet of ice through the air – it could only be mere nanometres in thickness – which froze in place just as my hand came into contact with Marie's skin. Taking a deep breath, I established a telepathic link, and projected my consciousness into her mind. I could sense her power activating, more slowly than normal due to the ice, and I knew I had to work fast. Inside Marie's mind, I pushed out my senses to locate the imprint of Magneto. I was in luck. It wasn't far off. Travelling through the ethereal, I moved close to it, and could sense his presence, very faintly. It was now or never. This had to work.

__

Magneto? I transmitted.

My heart jumped with relief as he responded in surprise, _Who is that?_

Oculus. We need your help.

If you think you can bargain for my aid because you saved my life, think again. I have already paid that debt.

Just hear me out. Your interests are at stake here too.

I'm listening.

The military unit who attacked you have captured us. They're conducting research into weapons that will kill mutants, and they're using us as test subjects. If we don't stop them, they'll be able to kill every mutant on the planet.

Typical humans. I suppose Charles Xavier is just sitting back and letting them do this. You see now that humans and mutants cannot coexist?

I could feel Marie's power spreading; my body was experiencing pain…I couldn't actually feel the pain, since my mind was not in my body, but I could sense it was there. I knew I had mere seconds left before it became too much, and she killed me.

__

Maybe you're right, I said,_ Listen, I can't talk for long. Will you help us?_

Yes. I will. But there is one thing you must know – 

__

Sorry. I have to go!

I pulled out of Marie's mind, and jerked my hand away from her. Both of us gasped with shock, and I fell backwards on the floor. My body was racked with fatigue and lingering vestiges of pain, and I realised just how close I must have come to death. A pair of hands gently cradled my head, and I looked up into Chloe's face.

"Hey," I said weakly. "When did you wake up?"

"A moment ago," she smiled brightly. "Chris was just telling me about your brilliant plan."

I blinked, "Yeah. You seem oddly cheerful."

"I'm just relieved that I'm not in that lab any more, having those sick devices tested on me. Compared to that, this is heaven."

Pushing my senses towards her, I got a glimpse of her feelings, and realised just how much pain she had been going through. I felt a fresh surge of anger towards Van Gaarde. He would have to die a thousand horribly painful deaths before I could forgive him for this.

"Did it work?" Chris was saying impatiently, moving over to sit beside us.

I nodded and spoke in a tired voice, "Yes. I got in touch with Magneto. He said he'd help us, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't know. I think he was going to tell me something important, but I had to break it off before Rogue's power destroyed me."

"So he's coming to help us?"

"That's what he said."

"Good," said Chris. "That's the main thing. Of course, we can't just sit here and wait to be rescued. We have to do everything we can to make it easier for him."

Marie looked at me, "I've absorbed your powers, Neil. I could telepath to Magneto myself now. There was no need for you to take that risk."

"I'm not so sure. I mean no offence, but I don't know if he'd have listened to anyone other than me. I did save his life, remember. He says he's settled that debt, but I sense that still feels an obligation to me."

"I guess the enemy of our enemy is our friend," said Chloe. "For now, anyway."

"Yeah," I said. "OK, here's our plan. Next time Van Gaarde comes along to take us out to play with his toys, we stage some surprise attack. Depending on who he takes, this attack could have various forms. With luck, it will coincide with Magneto's arrival, and we'll be able to get out of here."

"Amen to that," said Chris.

I could sense the general mood had lightened, and everyone was feeling a new sense of hope and optimism. Strange, really, to be relying on our arch-enemy to rescue us from certain pain and death, but it just proved what I had said earlier: Magneto wasn't all bad.

"Wow, I can read your mind," Marie was saying to Bobby. "Hey, you really _do_ like me."

He grinned in response to her attempt at a joke, "Just as well I'm not having any dubious fantasies at the moment."

"Yes, just as well, for your own safety."

Both of them smiled, and instinctively drew together to share a kiss. At the last moment, they remembered it was impossible. They couldn't touch each other, and both of them broke away sadly. Chloe put her hands on my shoulders and tried to pull me towards her to kiss me. I shook my head. We couldn't openly kiss in front of Bobby and Marie; it would be too cruel, to let them see us doing what they so desperately wanted to do, but were unable to. Chloe understood, and nodded in response. Chris was sharing a joke with Felicity, and I noticed the way her eyes were looking at him, the way she smiled in response to his humour. I knew she liked him. I also knew exactly which girl Chris liked…

But that was none of my business. We had to find a way to escape. When the door next opened, when they came for us, we could act. For now, all we could do was wait, wait to be rescued by the enemy of our enemy. I hoped Magneto would hurry.

A/N: please review this story; I love getting feedback! This story seems to be getting far less reviews than its predecessor; strange, considering I don't think it's any worse. Comments on the characters and their relationships would be especially welcomed. Thanks!


	10. A Vow Broken

Chapter Eight: A Vow Broken

I must have dozed off at some point, as the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake by Chloe.

"Neil!" she hissed. "They're here!"

My tired brain stirred, "Who? Magneto?"

"No! The soldiers! Three of them; they're here to take us back to the labs!"

She gave a cry of pain as she was grabbed by the shoulder and flung out into the corridor. I opened my eyes fully, just in time to see one of the soldiers leaning over to yank me to my feet.

"Come on, freak," he snarled. "Time to go."

I reacted angrily. I'd had enough of this. I knew they had guns, but I wasn't going to sit back and let them treat us like this any longer. My power exploded out as I raised my arms, flinging the soldier away from me. He hit the wall with a sickening thud, and the other two guards reacted instantly, raising their weapons and firing at me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bobby responding, a jet of ice bursting forth from his fingertips to create a solid, frozen wall that shielded me from the bullets.

Chris almost knocked me over in his eagerness to get at the two soldiers. Ducking and rolling over to avoid gunfire, he delivered a spinning kick that knocked the first man's weapon out of his hands. The second soldier aimed his gun at Chris; from point-blank range he couldn't really miss, but a lightning bolt from Felicity jerked it out of his grasp and into the air. The man remained unharmed; obviously the weapon hadn't conducted the electricity; as Magneto had predicted earlier, they were using non-metallic equipment, clearly knowing about his power.

The two soldiers, now unarmed, panicked and scrambled desperately to get their weapons back. Chris chopped one of them on the back of the neck, knocking him out cold. Marie and Chloe grabbed the second man, and between them they managed to subdue him. I let out the breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding, as I surveyed the aftermath of the battle. All of the three men were still alive, with no serious injuries, though the guy I'd thrown into the wall looked as if he had a broken arm. Nothing that wouldn't heal.

"What now?" said Chloe excitedly. "Do we make a break for it?"

"We need to find Wolverine and Storm," Bobby reminded her.

"I think we ought to lie low for now," I said. "We might be able to escape on our own, but we don't know how many of these anti-mutant weapons they have, and we _don't_ want to come up against them. If we're going to make a move, we make it when Magneto gets here."

Chris indicated the three fallen men, "In that case, we'd better hide them somewhere. Say, here's an idea. Why don't we steal their uniforms and see if we can pose as guards? Maybe then we can get into the labs and destroy these weapons they're making."

"Sounds good," I said. "We'd better act fast; if we don't appear in the labs soon, Van Gaarde will send more troops to find out why."

We dragged the three soldiers inside the room and began stripping off their uniforms. 

"So who's going to dress up as a guard?" asked Felicity.

Chris shrugged, "Well, there don't seem to be any women on this base, so that lets three of us out right away. And I don't think all three of us guys should do it. Having three new faces at once would make them suspicious."

"If we can't find a pair of shades or something like that, then I'm out too," I said, pointing my gold-pupilled eyes. "I think these might just give me away."

"In that case, we're in luck," said Felicity. "This guy's got a pair."

Rummaging in the pocket of one the soldiers, she pulled out a set of dark glasses, and handed them to me. I slipped them over my eyes and said, "OK, I'm good to go."

"I'll come with you," said Chris. "I already know the layout of the base a little bit."

"So if you two are posing us guards, what are the rest of us going to be doing?" said Marie.

"We'll need to take Chloe with us," Chris said. "She's the one Van Gaarde wants. While he's getting ready to test his sick little toys on her, we can spring a surprise on him, and destroy his devices."

"He might have more, in storage or something," said Felicity.

"We'll need to check on that," I said. "In fact, why don't you check on that while we go to the labs? Try to find a map of the base that'll tell you where to look."

"Shock, we'll help you look for a map," said Bobby, indicating himself and Marie. "Once we find it, we'll try and work out where Storm and Wolverine are being held, and go to rescue them."

"Right," I said. "We'll meet you there once we've destroyed their mutant-killing weapons. When Magneto attacks, we'll try to join up with him, and make a bid for freedom."

Chris and I had each managed to put on the military fatigues over our tight-fitting X-Men uniforms, and he looked both ways down the corridor outside, "We're clear. Let's go."

He stepped outside and Chloe and I followed him.

"Good luck," said Felicity.

"You too."

The three of us headed down the corridor in the direction of the labs, trying to make it look as if we were forcing Chloe to move against her will.

"I just hope Van Gaarde doesn't recognise us," I said.

"I don't think I've met him," said Chris. "And the shades ought to help disguise you. If he does recognise us, we'll just need to act quickly and knock him out."

"Do we have a plan here?" said Chloe. "Or are we just going to go in there and see what happens?"

Chris shrugged, "Just knock out whoever's in there and destroy the weapons."

"I hope it's that simple," I said.

He was going to reply, but we had reached the laboratory, and had to begin our pretence of being soldiers. Chris, as the one less likely to be recognised, went first, pushing the door open, and forcing Chloe into the room. She whimpered and pretended she'd been hurt.

"Stop whining, freak," he snapped, faking an American accent. "Get in there."

I was last to enter, and I saw with relief that Van Gaarde was the only man inside the room. He was facing away from us, fiddling with one of the silver cylinders that had caused Chloe so much pain.

"What took you so long?" he asked, still not turning to look at us. "Put her on the table and we'll begin."

"I don't think so," said Chris, in his natural voice.

Van Gaarde turned at last, an expression of annoyance on his face, which quickly turned into shock when he saw us. I stepped forward, my eyes blazing with hate, anger flowing freely in my veins.

"Do you remember what I said I'd do to you if I ever got the chance?" I asked him, raising both hands to use my telekinesis.

"Neil, don't," said Chloe, pushing my arms down. "Don't kill him. That would make you just as bad as Magneto."

"I'm starting to think Magneto's not all that bad."

"Don't do it," she said again. "I don't want you to."

I looked at her, "But Chloe, the man's a – "

From the corner of my eye, I saw Van Gaarde moving. He was surprisingly quick for a man of his age and build, as he whirled round to grab one of the cylinders from the trolley, and point it towards us.

"Nice try," he said. "I don't know how you got out of your cell, but you're going back there as soon as I can call for reinforcements."

He activated the cylinder, and the sudden shock of overwhelming pain made me stumble. It was as if every fibre of my body was being ripped apart, at the same time as being roasted alive by a white-hot flame. The burning, unrelenting agony tore through me and I heard a voice screaming, then realised it was my own. Chloe was beside me, also in the path of the device, her shrieks matching my own in volume and intensity. I tried to move to the side, to escape the beam, but my body wouldn't respond. The pain was too great. I sank to my knees, and curled into the foetal position, an instinctive reaction to try and protect myself. I lost all sense of time, of location, of who I was. My mind could only concentrate on one thing: the pain coursing throughout my body.

The device must have been switched off at some point, as I was suddenly conscious of no new pain arriving, just the still-excruciating aftermath of the previous agony. I looked up. Van Gaarde was standing over me; Chloe was lying on one of the tables, chained down, sobbing; Chris was nowhere to be seen. Had he gone to find the others, to fetch help? I got to my feet, not as quickly or painlessly as I would have liked, and faced the scientist.

"I know you're going to attack me again, so I should point out that it simply isn't worth trying," he said.

"Why not?"

He held up a syringe, "This holds a sample of another of the weapons we have been developing. A fast-acting toxin, lethal to mutants, but again completely harmless to humans. I was about to test it on your girlfriend here, but I think I have another idea. I must warn you, though. Make any offensive moves and I _will_ inject her."

Van Gaarde moved the syringe towards Chloe's neck, and I was powerless to do anything. There was nothing I could do that would act fast enough to stop him injecting her.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked in resignation.

He tossed one of the silver cylinders towards me. Instinctively I caught it with my right hand.

"Use that on her," he said, pointing to Chloe with his free hand.

"Why?"

Van Gaarde gave me a twisted smile, and a sadistic gleam appeared in his eyes, "Because I know how much it will hurt both of you. Think of it as a punishment for escaping from your cell. And for killing Davor Rosiçky; he was a good friend of mine." 

I gripped the cylinder tightly. I couldn't do it. I couldn't use it on Chloe. I'd made a vow. I couldn't break it. Nothing was more important than Chloe and her happiness.

Except perhaps her life. If I didn't do it, Van Gaarde would inject her with the poison. I had to do something, anything, to keep him busy, until Chris and the others could get here. I stretched out with my senses, trying to locate them. I could sense one mutant, travelling towards the lab. Was it Chris? Had he been unable to find our friends?

"Use the device now," Van Gaarde threatened. "Or she'll die."

I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt Chloe. I'd sworn a vow. I couldn't.

I had to. I had to keep her alive until Chris could get here. I panicked and lost control.

__

Chloe, I said, _forgive me, please forgive me, you have to understand, I have to do this, he'll kill you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I don't want to do this, I hate this, I'm sorry, forgive me, Chloe, I'm sorry, forgive, sorry…_

I was babbling incoherently now, desperately trying to communicate to her the necessity of my act. I didn't know if she'd forgive me. I knew I'd never forgive myself. I flicked on the device.

"_Nooooo_!!!" Chloe screamed, writhing about on the table, her body jerking horribly, her hands white-knuckled fists, straining helplessly against the steel cuffs, screaming in the throes of agony that I was inflicting on her.

Van Gaarde laughed. I felt tears falling from my eyes. It was only the second time in my life I had ever cried; my mutated eyes did not pass tears easily. 

__

Please, Chloe was thinking, _please, I can't take it any more. Please stop…_

I can't. He'll kill you.

Please…

I couldn't stand to hurt her any longer. I switched off the device and threw it aside. Time seemed to move in slow motion, and I watched in an agonised helplessness as Van Gaarde plunged the syringe towards her neck. Even as I raised my hand to try and push him away, I knew I wasn't going to be in time. The needle pierced her skin, and the poison was injected into her bloodstream.

"No!" I yelled, my power coming into play a second too late, flinging Van Gaarde into the wall behind the table.

"You're too late," he said. "It'll kill her within ten seconds or less."

"No! I'll kill you!" I shouted, walking round the table to face him.

He threw the empty syringe away and made a grab for the silver cylinders on the trolley. I kicked it away, and used my telekinesis to throw him against the wall again.

"Five seconds now," he gloated. "She'll be dead in five seconds."

"So will you!" I screamed, as I lifted him off the floor, and sent him flying across the length of the room, to smash into the opposite wall.

He was unconscious. I forgot about him and turned to face Chloe. She was no longer moving, and her face had gone chalk-white. Had five seconds passed? They must have done. I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it. Chloe wasn't – Chloe couldn't be – 

Chloe was dead. Ten seconds had passed long ago, and the poison must have killed her. I sank down on to the floor beside her table, my head falling forwards to rest on her arm. Tears were flooding from my eyes now; I felt as if they would never stop. I had never imagined it would end like this. I had been looking forward to the two of us getting married, starting a family, growing old together, and dying in our eighties or nineties. Chloe couldn't die at the age of sixteen, when we'd hardly known each other, when we still had so much to share. She couldn't be dead. She couldn't. I grabbed her hand – white, cold and limp – and squeezed it hard.

"Chloe," I sobbed. "Don't be dead. Please, don't be dead. I can't live without you. You've got to be alive."

I could still sense her mind, but that didn't mean anything. Her mental image would remain for a few minutes until her body fully shut down. It was probably my imagination anyway; she was dead. She was gone, and my life was an empty void once more. I had no parents, and now no Chloe. Everything that had ever made life worth living was gone. I squeezed her hand tighter, as if I could bring her back to life by applying as much pressure as possible.

"Hey, that hurts. Stop it."

I vaguely heard the voice, but I didn't know who'd spoken it. I felt sorry for the person, because I too was in pain, and nobody deserved to be suffering like this.

"Neil, I said stop that. You're hurting me."

I wondered who Neil was and who he was hurting. I hoped he would stop it soon.

"Neil!"

The urgent tone of the voice forced its way into my attention, and my head jerked up. Chloe looked back at me, her eyes open, her face bright and just as beautiful as when she had been alive. Hang on. If she wasn't alive, why were her lips moving?

"You're alive!" I gasped.

"Uh – yes," she said. "What gave it away?"

"But the poison…he injected you…that stuff…he said it would kill you…"

She shook her head, sounding tired, "I'm all right."

"But he said it would kill you!"

"I'm here talking to you, aren't I?" she whispered.

She was alive. But how? Van Gaarde must have made a mistake somehow. Had he used the wrong chemical? Or perhaps his poison wasn't as effective as he thought it was.

"Chloe, I…I thought you were dead. I was just facing the prospect of life without you. I couldn't – I couldn't have lived with that. I – I – um – " I finished awkwardly.

"You're doing it again," she said, smiling through her exhaustion.

"Doing what?"

"Hiding your emotions; not letting me see how you really feel."

She tried to bring her hand up to touch my face, but the metal cuff still restrained it. I undid the cuffs, and her hand lovingly caressed my cheek. Her movements were weak, and I feared the worst. Was the poison still killing her, but slower than the scientist had expected?

"Are you really all right?" I asked her.

She nodded, her eyes closing and her head sinking back, "I'm fine. My body's fighting the poison; I can feel it. I'm not going to die."

Was that true? Was she merely saying it to make me feel better? I held Chloe's hand in mine, and pushed my senses out towards her. Her body was growing weak, even weaker than her outward appearance suggested. Her immune system was fighting against the poison, and I couldn't tell whether or not she would survive. Was there any way I could help? Could I lend her my power to aid in the fight?

She was dying, I could sense it now. The poison was overcoming her, just more slowly than Van Gaarde had predicted. 

"I love you," she whispered, the words barely audible.

Clearly struggling with the effort, her lips formed one last smile, then she lost consciousness. I knew it was only seconds before Chloe died. There had to be something I could do. I thought desperately. I felt my adrenaline growing inside of me, and I knew I had to do _something_. Desperation overtook me, as I imagined the agony of life without Chloe. Without knowing what I was doing, I pushed out towards her with my power, and unlocked the last of my hidden mutations. I had a vision, for a split second, of a seven foot tall black giant, falling off the edge of a building to his death.

__

Antaeus.

My last gift, the last of the mutant powers my father had bestowed upon me, surged through my body and into Chloe's. Like water meeting fire, like heat meeting cold, like any force meeting its opposite, the power flowed through her bloodstream, obliterating all traces of Van Gaarde's poison as it went. My healing power swept throughout Chloe, strengthening her weakened body, repairing her damaged organs, mending all of the damage the poison had done. With a sudden gasp, she awoke. Her eyes opened and she stared at me, words pouring out of her mouth, "What – you – what did you – what happened?"

Drained, yet elated, I smiled for the first time in what seemed like years, "I killed the poison. I healed you."

"Neil…"

"Chloe…"

All vestiges of weakness gone, she flung herself into my arms and we hugged tightly, forgetting everything but our love for each other. I had come so close to losing her…I had been forced to inflict great pain upon her…she was my everything and my whole world…she was alive…she was Chloe.

__

My protector, she was thinking, _my saviour. The man who I know will always be there for me, no matter what. He's Neil._

We were both startled out of our reverie by the sound of the door opening. Still in each other's arms, we looked over to see the soldier entering the room, his weapon pointed towards us. It wasn't Chris. It wasn't anyone I knew. Van Gaarde had regained consciousness, and he waved impatiently at the soldier, "Kill them! For the love of…finish them!"

I didn't know if I had sufficient power left to deflect bullets, but I raised my hand in preparation to block the attack. It never came. The man delivered a sideways kick to the struggling Van Gaarde, knocking him on to the floor, out cold again.

"Come on! Hurry up!" the soldier shouted.

"Who are you?" I asked.

His features melted as he morphed into a blue-skinned figure I knew all too well.

"Mystique!"

"Yes!" she said. "Come on, hurry!"

"Where's Magneto?"

"He's here. We haven't got much time. Come _on_!"

"Wait!" I said. "These are some of the weapons they're planning to use against mutants! We have to destroy them!"

"We don't have time!" said Mystique. "I can't explain right now! You have to trust me! We _have_ to go!"

The two of us hurried towards the door, Mystique going just ahead of us. In the corridor outside were the rest of my friends: Marie, carrying the unconscious figure of Storm; Chris, struggling with Wolverine's larger frame; Felicity, Bobby and Pyro holding off an attack coming from the left; Magneto standing nearby, manipulating a large metal plate to act as a shield.

"I've found them! Let's go!" said Mystique.

"This way," Magneto called, leading us down the corridor to the right.

Bobby fired another blast of ice, creating a solid wall that filled the passageway to the left, blocking any soldiers who might try to come after us, then we hurried after Magneto. He seemed to know where he was going, as we ran down the corridor towards an elevator. The interior of the lift wasn't large, and with eleven of us it was a tight squeeze, but we managed to fit inside and were soon ascending to the ground floor where we could make our escape.

As the elevator doors opened, three soldiers were standing outside waiting for us, and they opened fire. I raised my hand to slow the incoming bullets, which clattered harmlessly to the floor. At the same time, the three men were felled by an ice blast, a fire ball, and a lightning bolt respectively.

Magneto seemed to know where the exit was, and continued to lead the way through the base. From around the corner up ahead, four attack dogs, big Alsatians, came speeding towards us, their teeth bared, ready to kill.

"Chloe!"

"Stop!" she yelled. "Don't hurt us!"

The dogs barked and abruptly stopped. Two of them lay down to go to sleep, and the other two ambled peacefully past us as we continued our swift progress towards the exit.

"The way out's just up ahead here," said Magneto. "When you get out, don't stop, keep running!"

"Why?" I said.

"You'll see. Trust me."

"Trust _you_?" said Chris.

Magneto chose to ignore him, "This door on the right."

He thrust out his hand; the metal door handle turned, and the door was thrown open.

"Wait!" I cried suddenly. "There's someone – "

From outside the door came Rat, his claws out and his teeth bared, his yellow eyes narrowed with hatred. He tackled Magneto, knocking him to the floor, sinking his teeth into his neck.

"You traitor!" the rodent-man spat. "You left me to die!"

The poison from his bite had already begun to affect Magneto, who tried to sit up, but failed and collapsed on to his back, unmoving. Rat faced the rest of us, and leered mockingly, "Who's next?"

"I'll take him!" Mystique snapped angrily. "The rest of you, get out of here! Somebody get Magneto to safety!"

Without thinking about what I was doing, I lifted Magneto's inert form, and followed the rest out of the door.

"Where are we going?" Chris demanded. "I don't think I can carry Wolverine much longer!"

"Just up here," said Pyro. "This should be far enough away."

"Far enough away for what?"

"You'll see. Hurry."

Ducking down behind the large rock indicated by Pyro, I laid Magneto down on the ground and looked up, watching the door. Presently Mystique emerged, running towards us. Rat was a couple of seconds behind her. Pyro flicked on his lighter and threw a fire ball towards him. Rat ducked; Felicity and Bobby were on their feet firing lightning and ice at him, and the rodent-man had no choice but to flee in the other direction, disappearing into the trees. Mystique arrived at my side, "How's Magneto?"

"He's poisoned," said Pyro. "Can we heal him?"

"Do you have an antidote to Rat's poison?"

He shrugged, "No. But you can do something, right?"

"Like what?"

"Wait," I said. "I think I can help."

I put my hand on Magneto's palm, and pushed out my senses. He had been poisoned, and he was dying. It was just as it had been with Chloe. The only question was, could I use my healing power again? It had been largely spontaneous last time; I didn't know if I could trigger it at will. How had I done it last time? I'd let the adrenaline build up…

I felt the adrenaline rising in my blood, and I tried to remember what I'd done before. I'd sort of _pushed_ with my mind, and…

I was releasing the power. I felt my healing ability passing into Magneto, destroying the poison Rat had left in his body, repairing the damage, restoring him to full health.

"It's working," I said.

The poison was gone. Magneto opened his eyes and looked up at me, "Was that you?"

"Yes."

"You saved his life _again_?" Chris demanded.

"This is getting to be an ugly habit," Magneto agreed. "But you have my thanks. Did you kill Rat?"

Mystique shook her head, "He got away."

Chloe said, "Do you think he – "

She was cut off as a thunderous explosion ripped through the silence of the night, and the building, only a few hundred yards away, erupted into a ball of flame. My eyes, temporarily blinded by the brightness, widened in shock and I turned on Magneto, "That was you, wasn't it? You set explosives!"

"Yes. You said there were anti-mutant weapons here that had to be destroyed."

"But I didn't say anything about blowing up the entire building!"

"I was going to tell you," he said. "But you cut off the telepathic link before I could. Incidentally, how _did_ you manage to telepath to me?"

"Never mind that," I snapped. "You've just killed everybody in that building!"

"Not everybody. Look."

I turned to look where he was pointing. A helicopter was rising out of the trees Rat had run into. I stretched out with my senses, trying to find out who was on board. One mutant. And at least one human; I couldn't tell at this distance. I pushed out with my eyes, looking through the side of the chopper.

"It's Rat," I said. "There's some others with him…Lutowski is one of them. So is Van Gaarde."

The helicopter gained more height, turned and disappeared out of view, blocked by the tree-line. I brought my eyes back to my surroundings. Chloe was crying, and I looked over at her, "Chloe?"

"The soldiers in the building," she sobbed. "All right, so they were our enemies, but they would have had wives and children. And those dogs I talked to – they must have been in there too."

Chris was staring at the ground, shaking his head. Felicity was staring angrily at Magneto, who had stood up and gone to stand calmly beside Mystique and Pyro.

"They were enemies of mutantkind," Magneto explained. "They would have killed us if they'd had the chance; I took that chance away from them."

"You didn't even give them a chance to get to safety!" Chloe yelled.

"Why should I? If they'd remained alive, they would be a threat to us. You could at least show me some gratitude. I've rescued you and removed people who would have tried again to harm you."

"You killed them! You murdered them!"

"I tire of this," Magneto sighed. "We are at war with these people. You may do things your way, and I will continue to do things my way. I bid you farewell. Oh, by the way, I believe your jet is still where you left it. You should have no trouble getting home."

The three of them left us, heading into the forest to wherever their own transport was located. The six of us remained, still sitting on the ground, with our two unconscious friends.

"I can't believe it," Chloe was saying. "I can't believe he just did that. I mean, I've been told what he's like, but I never thought I would actually see him kill people in cold blood like that."

"He's lucky the explosion happened _after_ I healed him from the poison," I said. "Otherwise I might not have bothered."

"Yeah, I was going to ask about that," said Chris. "Since when can you heal people?"

"It's one of the powers my father implanted in me," I explained. "Remember he told me I shared one power with each of his four other subjects? Chameleon's eyesight, Inferno's berserk attack, Mindstorm's telepathy – and Antaeus must have had this healing power. I discovered it when I was down in the labs. Chloe was injected with poison, and – and I had to heal her. It's the same as when I discovered my other powers. When I'm under stress and I need to use them, they'll manifest themselves."

Marie was looking at the still-burning hulk of the military base. I pushed out my senses, but could sense no life from within.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"We go back to the mansion," I said. "Revive Wolverine and Storm, and tell the Professor everything that's happened."

"We _still_ don't know where Nightcrawler is," said Bobby.

"I thought we might find him here. Seems I was wrong. I don't know where he is. We have to get back home and let the Professor decide on our next move."

As we got up and moved off, making our way towards the place where we'd left the jet, I found myself thinking about the two lives I had saved within the last few minutes. My healing power had cured both my greatest love and my worst enemy. Both of these lives I had wanted to save. One of them I knew I would never regret saving, the other I wasn't so sure about. What was it about Magneto? Despite the fact that I knew, and had seen for myself, that he was a cold-blooded killer bent on the destruction of all humans, I still refused to see him as being all bad. I still saw the good in him, even if nobody else seemed to. What was it that had made me save his life twice? What was it that had made him come to our rescue when I had asked? Were we really enemies? Were we instead friends who were merely caught on opposite sides of the human-mutant dilemma? Xavier and Magneto…myself and Magneto…it was becoming clear to me that there was no such thing as simple good and evil. There was evil, and then there were differing viewpoints of people who were trying to be good. Or did evil itself exist at all? Were not all people simply trying to do what they thought was best for themselves? 

No, I decided, evil did exist. It existed inside the head of one of my best friends, in a psychopath named Mindstorm. We were going back to the mansion, and I would try again to get Jacqueline to fight against her. Whatever it took, we would free her from Mindstorm's control. With Jacqueline's help, and with the X-Men back at full strength, we would end this war, destroy Rat, Lutowski and Van Gaarde, and unite the differing viewpoints of people who were trying to do good.

If only it were that simple. 


	11. Mindstorm's Revenge

Chapter Nine: Mindstorm's Revenge

On the flight home, and now resting in my room at the mansion, I'd had plenty of time to think over what had happened during the last few hours. The Professor was down in the infirmary; he and Cyclops were attending to Storm and Wolverine. A meeting was planned for when the two of them were recovered, and until then there was nothing for me to do. It was the middle of the night, and I'd gone to my room to try and catch some sleep, but I couldn't seem to drop off. Lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, I wondered if I would ever be able to forgive myself for what I had done.

The images were still horrifyingly fresh in my mind: Chloe writhing, screaming in agony as I used the device on her. What evil was this, that a man could be forced to inflict such pain on the one he loved most? Chloe and I hadn't spoken about it, and I knew she bore me no hate or malice for what I had done, but I was still struggling to cope with it. I knew the memories and the images would stay with me forever, haunting me every day. I knew that nothing I could do would ever blot them out. I knew that I would never forgive Van Gaarde. He was exactly like my father: completely obsessed by his research work, unable to see the pain and grief he was causing. I'd killed my father, and I knew, if I got the chance, I would kill Van Gaarde as well.

I sighed and closed my eyes. The images were still there, as if they were burned into my retina. Chloe…innocent, pure, and loving…and utterly undeserving of the anguish she had gone through. Why were the innocents always the first to suffer? Why were the defenceless always slain?

Because evil existed within all of us. That was another of the realisations I had had while I was locked deep in thought on our way home in the jet. Nobody was good. We were all potentially evil. It was just a question of how hard you tried to squash that potential. It would never fully go away. Life was a constant struggle between giving into temptation and doing evil, or resisting it and doing what you knew was right. The trouble was, the right thing was rarely what you wanted to do, and it was all too easy to give in.

I sensed somebody approaching, and opened my eyes to see Chloe standing over me. She sat down on the bed next to me, put her hand on my arm, and smiled, "Hi."

"Hey," I said, returning her smile. "Listen, I just want to say sorry for what happened back there. Please don't hate me for it."

"I don't. I know you were only doing what you had to do to keep me alive. I know you'd never willingly hurt me."

"I don't deserve you, Chloe. You're too good for me."

"Don't say that. You know we're both right for each other."

"You deserve somebody better than me. Somebody who'd never hurt you the way I did."

"You're wrong. No-one but you could have healed me of that poison," she reminded me, squeezing my hand. "When I thought I was going to die…all I could think about was that I would never see you again…"

"All I could think about was the life you were never going to have, and the future we would never be able to share."

"We've got it back now. Nobody can take it away from us. Our future is whatever we want to make it."

I smiled, "Let's never hurt each other again."

Chloe kissed me, wrapping her arms around my neck, sinking down on the bed by my side. I returned her kiss, putting my arm over her, pulling her close to me. All my sorrows, my worries and my grief, melted away into nothingness as we shared our love. Our bodies were pressed tightly together, and I could feel her heartbeat, matching time with my own, accelerating in tandem, as our passion and excitement grew. I formed a telepathic link between us, and pushed out to Chloe with my emotions. She gave a delighted gasp, "What was that?"

"You said I never shared my feelings," I smiled. "That was the only way I could think of doing it."

She kissed me again, the two of us wrapped in the warmth of our shared emotions, both of us feeling what the other could feel, and I felt Chloe's leg moving, over on top of mine. She twisted, shifted her weight, and suddenly she was on top of me, lifting my head slightly for another passionate kiss. I had never felt this excited before. My emotions were spiralling out of control, as were hers, and both of us could feel it. How far was she willing to go? Did she want to – could we be about to – ? Neither of us was wearing very much; Chloe only had her nightdress on, and I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts; nothing that couldn't easily be removed…

Suddenly all thoughts of sex went out of my mind. Like a dagger piercing the silent veil of the night, from elsewhere in the building came a telepathic scream, a desperate cry for help. I jerked upright, surprising Chloe, who felt how tense my body had become, and asked in a concerned voice, "Are you all right? Did I hurt you or something?"

"No. Something's wrong. Someone's in trouble."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know. Someone just called for help."

"I didn't hear anything."

"It was telepathic. I think I know who it was. Get dressed; we've got to get downstairs."

Jumping off the bed, I grabbed the clothes I'd left hanging over my chair, and hurriedly put them on. As I left the room, Chloe was running across the room to find something to wear.

"I'm going down to see what's going on," I said. "Get Chris and Felicity and anyone else you can find! Meet me at the elevator!"

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, I left the room and ran to the staircase, down to the ground floor. The elevator was along the corridor and around the corner…I went as fast as I could, and was just in time to see the elevator doors opening and a figure stumbling out into the passageway, holding his side.

"Wolverine!" I said. "Are you all right?"

He looked over at me, "Yeah, kid, I'll heal."

"What happened?"

He leaned against the wall, and I sensed his healing ability activating, "It was that girl – the one who used to be your friend."

"Psyche? What did she do?"

"I don't know. None of it makes any sense. She knocked out the Prof – I don't know how she did it – then Storm and Cyclops were trying to kill me. I only just got out of there alive."

"She must be controlling their minds," I said. "If the Professor got knocked out, there'd be nobody to stop her."

"Yeah, I guess that could be it," he agreed. "I'd only just woken up, so I wasn't really focusing on what was going on. My survival instinct took over and I managed to get out."

"How could she knock out the Professor? She's not as powerful as he is – not yet, anyway."

"I don't know. He was sort of leaning over to talk to her, then she grabbed hold of his hand, and – I dunno. He sort of yelled, then just collapsed."

"And then?" I said.

"She was asleep for a few moments, then she woke up. None of us knew what was going on, and Xavier had told us not to hurt her, so we didn't do anything. She started laughing, then she must have taken over their minds. I ran. Does that make any sense to you?"

"I'm not sure. I can guess what might have happened," I frowned. "When she grabbed hold of the Professor, she must have pulled him inside her mind."

"What?"

I continued, "Then there must have been a battle to take control of her mind, and Mindstorm must have won."

"Hey, slow down! Explain it to me in English!"

"All right," I said. "We told you how our friend Jacqueline managed to pull Mindstorm inside her head. She has this ability to contain multiple minds."

"With you so far."

"The thing is, when she does it, her own mind loses control of her body. When that happens, any one of the resident minds can take over. Mindstorm must have got there first, and she's now in control."

"She's the psychopathic one?"

"That's right. And now she's got Jacqueline's power at her disposal. What do you think we should do?"

Wolverine sighed, "I don't know. If you're right about this, then we can't kill her, because the Prof's mind is inside her. We can't kill Storm, and I guess we can't kill Cyclops either, but we have to stop all three of them."

"I asked Gaia to bring the rest down here," I said. "Even with all of us, I can't see how we're going to do it. There's only one way down there, and they'll be ready to kill us the moment we step out of the elevator."

"Yeah. It's bad."

I looked down at the floor, and forced my eyes to focus beyond it, trying to find out what was going on in the base below. It seemed unbelievable that this could have happened. We'd only just come back exhausted from one crisis, and another one had been thrust upon us right away. Psyche was dangerous – I had obviously underestimated just how dangerous – and now with Mindstorm controlling her body, she had to be stopped, this time once and for all. Mindstorm had to be removed from her head, and the Professor returned to his own body, then Jacqueline could be herself again. The scream I had heard…I knew now who it was: Jacqueline's child mind. It had been the seven year-old's last cry, a scream of terror and despair, seconds before her consciousness had been snuffed out by Mindstorm's power. 

I could see them now, on the floor below. Cyclops was standing just outside the elevator, waiting to blast anyone who came down. Storm was a few feet behind him, ready to back him up if necessary. Psyche was around the corner and further along, at the door that led to Cerebro. She was pushing at the door, then running her hand along its surface, checking for weaknesses, looking for a way in. I wondered what her plan was, why she wanted to use the Professor's machine.

"She's trying to get into Cerebro," I said to Wolverine.

"She can't get in without the Prof's retinal scan. There's no other way to open it, right?"

"I've opened it before. But I've got powers she doesn't have. She can't get it open."

"Wait a minute. The Prof's down there. What if she drags him over and uses his retinal ID?"

I shook my head, "It wouldn't work. The Professor's told me about the machine, and the door mechanism is programmed not to respond if he's unconscious. It's one of the security measures he's put in."

"You said you could open it?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, maybe we can bargain with her. Tell her you'll open the door for her if we can get Storm and Cyclops back."

I looked at him suspiciously. His suggestion of making a bargain with Mindstorm reminded me that I'd done the exact same thing, while I had been under her control. I pushed out my senses towards Wolverine. Immediately I sensed Mindstorm's power at work in him. This bargain was obviously her idea. I didn't know what she wanted to use Cerebro for, but it had to be important if she was willing to release Cyclops and Storm from her power and return them to us. If it was that important to her, it was probably bad for the rest of us.

I began pushing at Mindstorm, trying to force her out of Wolverine's brain. It was working; she seemed surprisingly weak and sluggish. But then, she was trying to control three people's minds at once. It had to be taxing her power. I continued to press, forcing her out, then I sensed a burst of anger from the floor below, and she left Wolverine's mind. He shook his head and said, "Uh. What was I just saying?"

"You were being controlled by her," I said. "I – "

I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor towards me. I turned to see Chloe, followed by Chris, Felicity, Marie and Bobby, as they arrived at my side.

"What's going on?" Chris demanded.

I told them. Chloe's eyes widened and she seemed upset at the death of the child mind. I was sad too, but I knew the child mind had not been enjoying a happy existence.

"I don't think Mindstorm has enough power left to take over anyone else's mind," I added. "But we still have to be careful. If anyone starts acting suspiciously, let me know."

Bobby grinned and pointed at Chris. I ignored him, then continued, "She's weakening, but she's still dangerous. Having the Professor's mind inside her is probably more than she bargained for. He'll be working against her, trying to get her to stop what she's doing, and that will make it easier for us."

"So what are we going to do?" said Chloe.

"I'm going to go down there," I said. "I'm going to face her. I've got an idea of how I might destroy Mindstorm, and let Jacqueline take her body back."

"What's your idea?"

"I can't tell you. Mindstorm might try to read your thoughts and find out. I can shield my own mind from her."

"What do you want us to do?" said Wolverine.

"Keep Storm and Cyclops off me. Don't kill them, don't knock them out, just keep them occupied. If Mindstorm has to keep manipulating them, it will weaken her further, and give me a better chance of beating her."

"If she kills you, what do we do?"

"Choose a new leader and make a new plan. I don't think she will. Even if my plan doesn't work, I think I'll still have more power left than she does."

"What does she want to use Cerebro for anyway?" asked Marie.

"I don't know. We have to get down there and stop her. It's possible she could find a way to open it. She's done it before, with my help."

"Now?" said Wolverine, indicating the elevator.

I nodded, "You go first. While you guys keep the two of them busy, I'll run past and find Psyche."

Nobody argued. As they entered the elevator, I stopped Chloe and said quietly, so no-one could overhear, "I don't really know how to say this, but – I don't want you to go down there."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to get hurt. There aren't any animals down there, anyway."

"Hey, I'm not completely useless without them. Chris has been showing me some martial arts."

"I know, Chloe, but – I don't want you to get hurt!"

She shook her head, "You're being over-protective. I know you're still feeling guilty about yesterday, but don't try to make up for it by wrapping me in cotton wool now. Do you think I want to see_you_ get hurt?"

"No."

"I'm not trying to stop you from going down, am I? Please, Neil, I know it's because you love me and you care about me, but I have to live my life. I'm an X-Man, same as you, and we're taking the same risks."

"All right. But promise me you'll be careful."

"I will. And you?"

"I will too."

She smiled and the two of us went into the elevator, the last to do so. Our group descended to the lower level in silence, until Wolverine said, "I'll run out and draw their fire. The rest of you help me keep them busy; Neil, you go and find Psyche and do whatever it is you're gonna do. Let us know if you need any help."

"Right."

"OK, get ready to duck," he said, as the elevator stopped at the underground floor. "Cyclops will probably fire a blast right at us the second the door opens."

The doors silently slid open, and as Wolverine had predicted, a ruby-red optic ray met us instantly. We managed to avoid being hit, and Wolverine sprinted out of the elevator to tackle Cyclops, diving at him and knocking him to the floor. Chris and Chloe ran to his side, and the rest of us hurried past.

Storm approached from around the corner, her eyes taking on the pale white glow that indicated she was about use her powers. A bolt of lightning burst forth from her fingertips, and Felicity pushed me aside to block it.

"It's all right!" she said. "I can't be hurt by lightning! Keep going!"

Marie must have absorbed Bobby's powers, as the two of them began firing ice blasts at Storm, keeping her off balance, preventing her from launching another attack. I glanced over my shoulder to see Cyclops being held down by Wolverine, his face turned towards the floor, where his optic blasts could do no harm. I knew they were buying me time. I ran past Storm and towards Cerebro, to face Psyche.

As I ran down the corridor, leaving the sounds of battle behind me, I could see her, still standing in front of the huge circular door, trying to find a way inside.

"Mindstorm!" I shouted.

She turned to face me, hatred etched into every cell of her features, "You!"

"It's over, Mindstorm. You can't win. You've met your match."

"What, you?" she spat. "Don't make me laugh!"

"No – Professor Xavier. I know you pulled him into your mind, thinking you could trap him. I know he's in there, working against you. You thought you were more powerful than he was. You were wrong."

"I wasn't wrong!" she screamed. "I am more powerful than he is! I am the most powerful telepath on the planet!"

"In that case, why don't you tell me why you're trying to use Cerebro?"

She retorted angrily, "Because I – because……I – I don't know."

"Because the Professor's making you do it," I told her. "He knows it will destroy you, destroy your consciousness completely, so Jacqueline can take back control of her body."

"No! You're lying! He can't! I'm too powerful!"

"No, you're not. In fact, I think the Professor let you drag him into your mind. It was a calculated risk, but he knew it was the only way to destroy you. He had to gamble that Cyclops and Storm wouldn't be able to kill us; he had to get you to take control of their minds so that it would weaken you."

"No!" she shrieked, but this time her voice had lost some of its conviction and its assuredness.

I looked through the door to Cerebro, found the mechanism that opened the door, and lifted a hand to activate it.

"In you go," I said.

Mindstorm gave a last painful cry, as she fought furiously against the Professor's power over her. She had no chance, and I watched as she turned and entered Cerebro. Walking to the device at the end of the platform, Mindstorm placed the helmet over her head. I knew its power was going to destroy her. I knew it was the Professor's doing. It was a daring and brilliant gamble, evidence that Xavier was both more powerful and more ingenious than either Mindstorm or myself. Just as she had earlier fooled me into thinking I was acting under my own volition, Xavier had fooled everybody into thinking Mindstorm was acting by herself.

I could sense it now, the power of the machine beginning to overwhelm her. Mindstorm was screaming, as it began to tear her consciousness apart. I knew the machine's power and how much it could hurt. I'd have felt sympathy for anybody in this situation – anybody but Mindstorm. Everything that she had done, all the times she had tried to hurt me and my friends, particularly Chloe, flashed before my eyes, as she screamed her last. Her body slumped against the machine, and I removed the helmet, placing it back on top of the terminal.

Mindstorm was gone, her last scream still echoing around the confines of the chamber. The sounds of fighting from outside the room had ceased. I put my hand on the side of Jacqueline's head, and I could sense her mind, returning to her body, being guided by the Professor. At last she could be at peace.

Lying on a bed in the infirmary, Jacqueline opened her eyes, looking up at us, and a smile slowly spread over her face. It was a smile of happiness, of contentment, of peace. The Professor had safely travelled back to his own body, and Jacqueline was finally alone in her own mind. I smiled back at her and squeezed her hand, "Welcome back."

Chloe was crying tears of happiness; Chris was kneeling beside the bed and holding Jacqueline's other hand; Felicity was looking on apprehensively, half-expecting Jacqueline to attack at any moment. Jacqueline looked at each of us in turn, her eyes lingering slightly on Chris, and said softly, "Is she really gone? Am I really alone in here?"

"Yes. Thanks to the Professor."

She sighed contentedly, "I never thought I could be this happy. I never thought I could feel this free. I'm myself again, I'm just – me. No other minds inside of me, eating away at my sanity, it's just me."

"That's the way we like you," Chris said awkwardly.

She looked over at him, and I sensed the emotions stirring in her heart. I knew Jacqueline had feelings for Chris. I knew it would upset her to learn that his feelings were for another. I was glad it wasn't my place to tell her. I was glad to have her back with us. At last things were starting to go right. 

I knew it wasn't the end; I knew it wasn't the last fight we would have to face, or the last victory we would have to achieve. There were enemies still out there, determined to destroy us, but for the moment I allowed myself to forget about them, to ignore the threats they presented. For now I could relax and enjoy the fact that Jacqueline was once again our friend, that the missing piece of our lives had been replaced, that Mindstorm's reign of terror was finally over. The enemy in our midst was no more, and our friend had been returned to us, safe and sound. It was more than I'd dared hope for. Jacqueline once more had a life and a future to look forward to. Pushing my senses into her mind, I knew there were still scars on her psyche, terrible memories she was trying to suppress, fear and confusion over her mental stability, but those would heal. Without Mindstorm to torment her, and with of all of us to help her through this difficult time, I knew she'd fully regain her sanity; for the first time she'd be able to look forward to the future with hope.

The friend that was lost, had returned.

A/N: Don't worry; this isn't the end. In the next chapter you will finally discover what has happened to Nightcrawler. Please review!

A/N 2: I may have cheated a bit with Storm's power; I don't know if she can use it indoors.


	12. Mutual Interests

Chapter Ten: Mutual Interests

The next few days were the happiest I had ever known. Having Jacqueline back was like the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that was my life. My circle of friends was complete once more. I'd never had a lot of friends, but the ones I did have I knew were true friends: Chloe, Chris, Jacqueline, and now Felicity too. The five of us were an inseparable group, spending all our time together, sharing our worries, our fears, our discoveries, and our joys. Well, maybe not quite all of them. Chloe and I had yet to come as close together as we had on that night, but I knew our relationship was still developing, and I knew it would be some time before we told the others that we were ready to make love.

It was taking me a little while to get used to the way things were now, with Jacqueline among us. I was no longer the second most powerful telepath after the Professor, and no longer the only telekinetic in the school. Also I was no longer the oldest of my age group. Jacqueline was nearly 18 now, several months older than I was, and already people were beginning to look up to her, as they did with me. She had been given a room to herself, now that she was too old to share with boys, and thus there were no problems with the fact that Felicity had taken her place in our room. However, I knew there would be problems of another sort later.

It happened one evening when I was in our room, lying on my bed reading a book, while Chris sat at the table, drawing idly on a sheet of blank paper. Chloe and Felicity were together elsewhere. There was a knock at the door and Jacqueline entered.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," she smiled. "Chris, can I ask you something?"

He looked over, "Yeah, what's up?"

"Oh, I was just…I was just wondering if you'd like to do something after dinner. I thought we could…we could maybe go for a walk in the…in the gardens, or go for a drink in the town. It's only a few miles away."

Chris sighed, and said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Jacqueline, I should have told you this earlier. I'm already going out with Felicity."

My eyes widened. This was news to me. I knew the two of them admired each other, but I didn't know they had any formal relationship going. I sensed Jacqueline's spirits dropping, her hope crushed, and she looked unhappily at the floor.

"I was going to tell you, but I thought you'd already know, being able to read my mind and all that," Chris explained.

She shook her head, "I'm trying not to use my power. It reminds me too much of what I – what I did when I was Psyche."

"I'm sorry," he said lamely.

I felt Jacqueline's emotions change: sadness; then jealousy and anger at Felicity; then bitterness and anger towards Chris; then sadness again. She covered her face with her hands as she started crying.

"Jacqueline," said Chris awkwardly. "Please don't get upset. It's not that I don't like you, because I do. I just think Felicity and I are a better match. You need somebody who'll be kind and patient and understanding, and that's not me."

"You were all that kept me going," she sobbed. "When Mindstorm was controlling me, when I thought I'd never be in command of my own mind and body again, the only thing that kept me going was thinking about you, and the hope that someday we could be together."

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have made assumptions. I – I hope you can be happy together."

She was trying to sound sincere, but I knew she didn't mean it. 

"It doesn't mean I don't love you," said Chris. "We all love you. We're all here for you. We're your friends."

Jacqueline smiled through her tears, "Yeah…I suppose I should count myself lucky that anyone wants to be my friend at all, after everything that I've done."

"It wasn't you. You know that."

She shook her head, "You're wrong. Mindstorm was controlling me, but in order to control me, there had to be something for her to use, something for her to latch on to."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything that I did," she sniffled. "All the killings, all the hate, all the destruction…it was Mindstorm's doing, but there was a part of me…a part of me that wanted to do it. A part of me that wanted revenge on my parents and the rest of humanity for what they had done to me. She couldn't have controlled me without that part of my mind to start on. I'm just as bad as she is – I mean, as she _was_."

"No, you're not," I said. "We're all like that. There have been plenty of times I've wanted to enact revenge, wanted to use my powers against people who have hated me because of what I am. I resisted the temptation to hurt people because I knew it would be wrong. You did the same. Mindstorm didn't, and that's what made her a monster."

"He's right," said Chris. "You know how angry I can get; you know how many times I've nearly lost my temper and lashed out at people. I've always managed to stop myself from hurting innocent humans. We've all had the same desire for revenge. I bet even the Professor's had it."

"Maybe you're right," said Jacqueline. "I'm sorry, I'm just finding it difficult to be positive right now. I'd set my heart on being in love with Chris and now that I – "

She was interrupted as the door was pushed open, and Chloe and Felicity entered, chatting happily to each other. Both stopped when they saw Jacqueline crying.

"Are you all right?" asked Chloe in a concerned voice.

Jacqueline turned round to look at the two of them. As her eyes settled on Felicity, I sensed her anger and resentment growing, overflowing. Her right hand twitched, and she began to lift her arm. My heart rose into my mouth. Jacqueline was going to lose it again. She was going to use her power to kill Felicity. I was already on my feet, raising my arms to counter her attack, when she came to her senses, and dropped her arm. Fresh tears trickled down her cheeks, and she snapped, "Have fun together. Don't worry, I won't get in your way. In fact, I think I'll just stay away from all of you from now on!"

Before any of us could react, she had stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Jacqueline was true to her word. She refused to speak to any of us from then on, shutting herself away behind walls of misery, sitting alone at dinner time, ignoring all attempts at starting a conversation. When I tried to sense her feelings, I discovered she had put mental barriers around her mind, denying me access. After she had finished eating, she disappeared to her room and locked herself inside. We didn't know what to do. Chloe suggested that Jacqueline just needed some time alone to sort herself out, and badgering her would probably not help. We decided to leave her alone for the time being, and see if she was any different tomorrow.

Chris and Felicity had their own plans for the evening; I wasn't sure what those were, but it seemed to involve going the short distance from the estate to the nearby town Jacqueline had mentioned earlier. Chloe and I decided to have an early night. I had a hunch that something important might be about to happen tomorrow; at dinner I had noticed the senior X-Men talking together, and had sensed that something out of the ordinary was going on, or was about to crop up. I wondered if it was to do with Nightcrawler, or Rat and the others. I'd told Chloe about it, and she had agreed that going to bed early was probably a wise idea. We had showered, changed, and climbed into bed, when I glanced over in the darkness at Chloe and said, "Chloe? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"About what happened that night – you know, just before Mindstorm was destroyed. We were getting close together, and…well, it wasn't like anything we'd ever experienced before. I don't know if that was just a one-off or what, but, well, I just thought I'd ask."

"What are you saying, exactly?"

I took a deep breath, "Do you want to make love?"

Surprise, but pleasant surprise, registered in her mind.

"I – I don't know," she said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry if it's premature. I mean, we _have_ only been going out for two months. If you're offended, I apologise. But we both think we have a future together, and…well, I mean love follows its own timetable, right?"

"I guess so…"

"Chris and Felicity aren't here…they won't be back for a couple of hours at least. We've got some time alone. I don't know what you want to do, but I thought maybe if we lie in bed together for a while, and start kissing, and just see what happens. Maybe we won't get close like we did last time. If we don't feel in the mood, we can just lie and talk. I don't know how you feel about it…"

She didn't say anything. In the darkness, I saw a vague shape moving, then my duvet was lifted, and she slid into bed beside me. 

"I'll take that as a yes," I said.

She put her arms around me and we began kissing, holding each other tightly, our desire and excitement growing each time our lips touched. As I had done before, I established a telepathic link between us, and transmitted my emotions to her. Her heart jumped as she felt them, and she pulled me closer, kissing me with a new passion and intensity. It was happening again, just as it had done before. Our shared emotions were rocketing past anything we had ever previously experienced, like twin shuttles rising from the launch pad, both burning with a white-hot, unquenchable fire. 

"Are we in the mood?" I asked, when we parted from a kiss.

"Oh, yes."

She let go of me for a moment, and there was a _flop_ as her nightdress hit the floor. My own clothes soon followed, then there was nothing but the two of us, drawing together, rising higher and higher, two as one.

When I woke the next morning, exhausted but happy, she was still sleeping beside me, her arm draped loosely over my chest, her face angelic and perfect, still my paragon of beauty. The love that we had shared last night – it was the most powerful emotion that I had ever sensed. No fear, no anger, no hatred, no negative emotion could ever be as powerful as love. I knew the love I had for Chloe was the most powerful emotion I would ever experience, and she would ever receive. I was lost in rapture at the memory of the feelings we had shared.

As I looked across the room, cold logic washed over me, and I began thinking straight. Chris and Felicity were both sleeping in their respective beds. They must have come back last night and found us together, asleep, our clothes still strewn on the floor. They could only have reached one conclusion. Now our secret was no more.

Then another thought, even more terrible, struck me. We hadn't used any contraceptives. What if Chloe had got _pregnant_? Frantically, I pushed out with my senses, directing them towards her. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could only sense Chloe, nobody else. No embryo growing inside her. _Thank you, God, _I prayed. As much as the two of us wanted to start a family together, it was definitely not something we wanted to do for a good number of years. From now on, we'd have to be careful.

When we went down for breakfast, I could sense Chloe was still dreaming, reliving the passions that had flowed between us, our shared emotions combining like nuclear fusion. She walked beside me, her hand in mine, lost in love, completely carefree, allowing herself to forget everything else. I was slightly more aware of what was going on around me; once again I noticed the Professor and Cyclops locked in conversation, and once again I got the impression that something important was being discussed. It came as no surprise when Cyclops walked over and asked us to meet them in the Professor's office when we had finished breakfast.

We had just started our meal, when Jacqueline arrived in the dining room, took her food, and sat down at our table. Her mind shields were still up and I couldn't tell what she was feeling, but she seemed to still be ignoring us, and Chloe's gentle attempts to talk to her met with silence. A little later on, Chris and Felicity appeared. We waved them over to our table, and Jacqueline, looking uncomfortable, began eating more quickly, presumably so she could leave as soon as possible.

"The Professor wants to see us after breakfast," said Felicity.

"We know," I said. "I think something's come up."

"He wants to see you too, Jacqueline," Chris told her.

She refused to meet his eyes, but said, "I know. I asked him if I could join the X-Men when I turn 18. I want to do something that will make up for all the wrong that I've done."

They were the first words she'd spoken to us since yesterday evening, and I wondered if she was about to come back out of her shell and be herself again. 

"You have to be 18 to be an X-Man?" said Chloe. "I thought we were all one."

"No, you're still an auxiliary member," Jacqueline said. "You can't become a full member until you're an adult."

"That's a bit unfair," said Chris resentfully. "We've all done as much as anyone recently!"

Jacqueline didn't reply, and seemed to have gone back into her self-imposed silence.

"We should be called X-People," Felicity decided. "X-_Men_ is sexist."

Chris rolled his eyes, "Trust you to say that. I haven't told you guys yet, but Felicity here is an ultra-feminist."

"Better than being an ultra-chauvinist, like you," she said.

"Listen, God created man before woman!"

"Yeah; obviously the flaws in the design were corrected before creating woman!"

I grinned and Chloe giggled at the angry expression on Chris' face. It softened into a smile and he gave Felicity a small kiss on the cheek. She blushed, and suddenly became very interested in her food. Jacqueline angrily pushed back her seat and hurried out of the room. I watched her go, wishing there was something we could do to make her feel better. Unfortunately there was no way of changing the way things were. The four of us had paired off, and Jacqueline was left the odd one out. I knew Chris was feeling guilty about it, but there really wasn't anything he could do. I hoped Jacqueline would find somebody else, somebody who could love her, but unfortunately the only other guy at the school her own age was Bobby, who was already spoken for.

"Neil?" said Felicity, interrupting my thoughts.

I returned my attention to the conversation around me, "Yeah?"

"Why was Chloe sleeping in your bed last night?"

Chloe gave a choking sort of gasp, and tried to make it look as if she'd got a piece of food stuck in her throat. Chris had covered his face with one hand, and was looking around surreptitiously, hoping nobody had overheard. I myself had just about managed to keep any reaction from showing on my face. Felicity must have been more naïve than I thought, but then, she had only just turned 15. I was trying to concoct some response to give her, but thankfully Chris stepped in before me and said, "That really isn't any of our concern, Fliss."

"But I was just – "

"Fliss – _leave it_."

"Huh. Keep your shirt on. I'm gonna go upstairs and start writing a letter to my Mom and Dad. I'll meet you down at Professor's office, 'kay?"

Chris nodded. Felicity smiled at him, then left. He raised his eyebrows at us and said, "Talk about clueless. Look, I'm not going to ask you about last night, because it's really none of my business. Obviously I'm not going to tell anyone about it. I won't mention it again, unless you want to."

"She isn't clueless, just innocent. But thanks, Chris. We appreciate it," I said.

"No problem. I'll catch you later; I'm going to see if Bobby's around."

He finished the last of his breakfast, got up, and left the dining room. Chloe looked at me and said, "So much for our secret, I suppose."

"We can trust Chris; he won't spread it around."

"I know, but I don't want _any_one to know about it. We'll have to be more careful next time."

"Yes, and in more ways than one. You could have got pregnant, you know that?"

She looked up in horror, "I never even thought about that! What if – what if I _am_?"

"Relax. You're not. I'd sense the baby's presence if you were. But listen, Chloe, the fact that it never even occurred to us, suggests to me we really shouldn't have – well, you know. Maybe we're not old enough."

"Maybe you're right. We were just getting carried away. It's that shared emotion thing, when you telepath your feelings to me. We just seem to go out of control."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. We'll need to talk about it later. Right now we'd better go and see why the Professor wants us."

We finished our meal, and headed out of the dining room together, towards Xavier's office.

It was just like it had been at the original meeting we'd had, right at the beginning of it all. Just as then, we were the last ones to get there. There were two new faces – Jacqueline and Felicity – but everyone else was standing in more or less the same places they had been last time. Jacqueline looked up as we entered, and moved slightly further away, leaning coolly against the wall.

"All right, I'll begin. Thank you all for coming," said the Professor. "First of all, the most important thing – I've been able to locate Nightcrawler."

"Where is he?" asked Wolverine.

"He's been taken to an ultra high-security military research facility," said Xavier. "As far as I can determine, he was captured at the same time you were, but for reasons unknown to me, he was moved to this other base."

"Maybe they considered him more dangerous," said Storm. "Logan and I were caught by surprise, and weren't really able to fight back, I'm sorry to say. Kurt very nearly escaped; he could have teleported to safety quite easily if he hadn't been concerned with trying to rescue us."

"We've got to get him back," Wolverine declared. "Where is he?"

"Only the highest security military base in the country," said the Professor. "Area 51."

Felicity couldn't contain her surprise, "_What_?! Oh…sorry, sir, I didn't mean to interrupt…but there really _is_ an Area 51? I thought it was just a story."

"It exists," said the Professor. "And Kurt is being held there. That isn't all. Our old friends are also there, no doubt continuing their research into anti-mutant weaponry."

"You mean that sadist Van Gaarde?" I asked. "And Rat and Colonel Lutowski?"

"Yes. It is imperative that we go to Area 51, both to rescue Kurt, and to destroy these weapons. Without them, the military may lose confidence, and will hopefully be more ready to accept a peaceful solution."

"So what's the plan?" asked Cyclops.

"Getting into Area 51 won't be easy," said the Professor. "Firstly, it's guarded by the most advanced radar system known to man. Even our jet won't be able to get in undetected. Secondly, the complex is surrounded by the Nevada desert, and protected by almost any kind of trap you can think of: electrified fences; laser tripwires; hidden explosives; heat, sound, motion and pressure sensors; and regular patrols covering every inch of ground. I believe the expression is 'you name it, they got it'. Thirdly, once past the traps, there is the facility itself. There is only one entrance, guarded at all times by men, dogs, tanks, helicopters, gun emplacements, the lot. Fourthly, the inside of the base. Each level underground requires higher security clearance than the level directly above. There is only one elevator. Rigorous checks are performed before access to lower levels is permitted. There are also regular patrols and infra-red sweeps of the interior of the building."

"Whereabouts in the base is Kurt?" asked Storm.

"The very deepest level. Only the US President, his top advisors, the researchers, and certain military personnel may gain access to that level. If a breach of security occurs on that floor, the first action taken is to flood the entire level with poisonous nerve gas. Each member of staff present on this level is provided with a gas mask and oxygen tank, and a ten second warning sounds before gas is released."

"You're right, this isn't going to be easy," Chris said.

"Even then, our troubles won't be over," said the Professor. "Getting out of the facility alive will be far more difficult than getting in, since they will definitely be alerted to our presence by then."

"In other words, it's virtually impossible," said Wolverine. "But you have a plan, right?"

"I have the beginnings of a plan," said Xavier. "That is the main reason why I asked you all here. All of you have unique gifts that will help us get in, destroy the weapons, find Nightcrawler, and get out. It will require all of us to do this."

"What about Magneto?" said Cyclops. "Shouldn't somebody be keeping an eye on him? What's going to happen when he finds out about this?"

"Actually, he already knows," said Xavier.

"What? How?"

"Because I told him."

"You _what_?" Wolverine yelled.

The Professor merely turned to the door that led to the office adjoining his, and called, "Erik, you can join us now."

As the door was pushed open, and Magneto stepped into the room, I felt a whirlwind of emotions rising from the other X-Men: varying levels of anger, shock, and terror. Cyclops raised his hand to his visor, Wolverine extended his claws, Jacqueline began to lift her arms, Chloe edged behind me, Marie and Bobby moved closer together, Chris adopted a fighting stance, but the Professor merely nodded to Magneto.

"Everybody stay calm," Xavier said to the rest of us. "Magneto is here at my request."

"Have you gone crazy?" Wolverine demanded.

"No, Logan, I have not. I have already outlined the difficulties of this mission. If we act alone, we may succeed, but there is no guarantee of it. In order to swing the odds in our favour, I have turned to an old friend to aid us."

"Not him!" Wolverine growled. "After everything that he's done, you're actually going to _trust_ him?"

"While we have interests in common – yes. This research into anti-mutant weapons is as much a threat to Magneto as it is to us. That is why we must work together. I believe we will need their help."

Magneto spoke at last, "So, Charles, we are joining together to go to war."

"No, Erik, we are not going to war. There will be no loss of human life during the course of this mission. I insist on that!" 

Magneto didn't respond, but I sensed the conflicting emotions passing between the two of them. Old friends, arch enemies, both wanting the same thing, but seeing different ways of doing it. The two most powerful mutants on Earth faced each other, like grandmasters gazing at one another over a chess board, both ready to deploy their pieces, both waiting for the other to make the next move. 

Eventually Magneto conceded, "Very well. You have my word."

I was expecting Wolverine or Cyclops to make some remark to the effect that Magneto's word was not worth a penny to either of them, but nobody seemed willing to intrude in the private battle of wills that was going on between the two leaders. Xavier bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement, and concluded, "In that case, the X-Men and the Brotherhood will join together for our mutual interests."

He faced the rest of us, "We will set out tomorrow. The rest of today will be spent planning our mission. You are all part of this, so input from any of you will be welcomed. One thing I wish to make very clear: Magneto, Mystique and Pyro are our guests and, for now, our allies. They are be treated with courtesy and respect. There will be no settling of old scores or grudges."

His eyes lingered on Wolverine, who shrugged, "If they're going to help us get Kurt back, I'll behave myself. _If _we can trust them."

I wondered about that too. Could we trust Magneto? He'd promised to save our lives when I had asked him, and he'd done so. At the same time, however, he had blown up the facility, killing all those inside. I was fairly certain that when he had promised the Professor that no humans would be killed, he had meant it. He would keep his word. That didn't mean we could trust him. It was the hidden things, the things we knew nothing about, his hidden plans, that we had to watch out for. He wouldn't betray us – of that I was sure – but when his interests began to diverge from ours, I knew that we would have to keep a very close eye on Magneto. 

A/N: In response to ramblingsofcrazywomen, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the X-Men, so you are most likely right. But at the end of X1, does Magneto not use his power after transferring to Rogue, when he tries to stop Wolverine destroying the machine, just before Cyclops blasts him? 


	13. Vision of the Future

Chapter Eleven: Vision of the Future

When we came down for breakfast the following morning, the plan was almost complete. It had been outlined to us as succinctly as possible, and each of us had been briefed on our own individual role. Myself and my friends had not stayed to hear every detail, since it was a lot to take in, and it was essential that we concentrate fully on our own part. We were all aware of the possibility that we might not come back from the mission alive, and all of us wanted to spend time together, in case we never got the chance again. The exception was Jacqueline, who had stayed with the adults to continue listening to the plans, since she had nobody she wanted to spend any time with. That fact, however, would soon change.

Chloe and I had taken a walk around the estate, stopping in all the quiet nature spots that she loved so much, watching the birds and other animals, taking in as much as we could before we had to leave the next day. We had kissed, fiercely and passionately, as if we might never be able to do so again. We had not made love; Chloe did not want to get pregnant, and we weren't taking the chance a second time. We had played table tennis with Chris and Felicity (or 'Chris and Fliss', as I was beginning to think of them) after dinner. Jacqueline had finally emerged from the Professor's office, and somebody had managed to coax her into watching TV with us. Joined by Marie and Bobby, we'd sat in front of the television set, aimlessly flicking through the channels, sharing jokes and stories, just enjoying each other's company; seven friends who had been through so much and loved each other like family.

If only we had known that one of us would not be there the next day.

Now we found ourselves together again, seated around one of the dining tables for breakfast, nobody saying anything, concentrating on eating food that our stomachs were unwilling to receive. We were all too anxious and wound up about the mission; I could sense it in the others, and it was a nervous fear that was only going to get worse as time went on. In a way, I hoped we could leave as soon as possible, and get it over with. At the same time, I didn't want to leave at all; I wanted more time with my friends. 

The table seated eight, which meant there was one empty chair. It did not stay empty for long. From one side came a cough, and an uncertain voice, "Hey, guys. Um – is it OK if I join you?"

Pyro.

"You're the only ones here my own age," he said by way of explanation.

I exchanged glances with Chris, who shrugged. Chloe moved closer to me; I sensed she was afraid. Jacqueline merely looked up at the newcomer. No objections had been raised, so Pyro put his breakfast tray down on the table, and took the seat next to Jacqueline. An uncomfortable silence fell over the table.

"For what it's worth," Pyro said. "I'm sorry about trying to kill you guys, you know, that time in the forest. I'm glad we're working together now. I'd much rather be your friends than your enemies."

I sensed that he had not wanted to say this, but he wanted somebody to talk to. He was lonely, with no friends his own age, and he was hoping we would accept him into our group, at least temporarily. I felt that somebody should say something in reply, so I answered, "I'm glad we're working together as well."

He nodded, "I really hate fighting other mutants."

"What about humans?" Chris asked.

John hesitated, "Well, it's like Magneto says. It's not that we _want_ to kill humans. It's just that they want to kill us, and we have to fight back."

"Right," said Chris sarcastically. "Tell me again why you destroyed that elementary school?"

"Don't talk about that!" Jacqueline snapped. "I'm trying to forget what I did!"

"Sorry. But listen, John, we don't have to fight humans. We can try to make peace with them."

John shrugged, "How long have you been trying? It doesn't seem to be working."

"That doesn't mean we should give up."

"Maybe not, but look, some humans will never be interested in peace. Like the guys who are developing these weapons we're going out to destroy. If we don't fight against them, they'll wipe us out."

Chris shook his head, and maintained his viewpoint, "It would just take one action, one act of heroism or bravery, to show the world the truth about mutants, to show them that we aren't as bad as they think."

Felicity spoke up, "It took years to overcome racism and abolish slavery, but it worked. This is the same thing. It will just take time."

Pyro shrugged, and concentrated on his food.

"What time are we leaving for Nevada?" asked Jacqueline.

"Noon," said Bobby. "The Professor wants us to be in his office for eleven, for a final briefing."

Chris added, "That means we've got about two hours in which to enjoy ourselves, before we fly off and risk our lives for all of mutantkind."

"You make it sound so dramatic," Fliss giggled.

He leaned over to give her a loving peck on the cheek. She smiled and gave him a little kiss in return. There was a clang as Jacqueline's fork hit her plate more loudly than she had intended. Narrowing her eyes, she glared hatefully at Felicity for a moment, then returned to her usual emotionless mask. Her mental barriers still prevented me from reading her feelings. She stood up, leaving her breakfast unfinished, and walked to the exit without a backward glance. Pyro watched her go, an intrigued expression crossing his face.

Chloe and I excused ourselves, and headed out into the garden once more. For all we knew, it might be the last time. She did not seem to be enjoying herself as much as she usually did out here, and I sensed she was afraid: afraid that one or both of us might not come back from this mission alive. I shared this fear, and I knew the others did too. Even the eternally confident ones like Chris and Bobby seemed quieter and more subdued than normal. I knew it was not a suicide mission. The Professor would not be sending us out on it if there was no chance we would survive. There were dangers, however, and a number of uncertainties.

My main concern was the possibility of Rat smelling us out before we could get close enough. I had brought this up more than once during the planning phase, as I felt it was not being given due attention. The Professor and Magneto had decided that I, with my long-range vision and X-ray eyesight, would be responsible for looking out for Rat, and making sure we did not venture too close to him. If he happened to become aware of our presence, I was to notify Jacqueline, who would read my mind to pinpoint Rat's location, and use her power to manipulate his thoughts, making him forget about us. It seemed risky, and would require luck and good timing, but the same could be said about the whole operation.

There were other things that worried me. The Professor had used Cerebro again last night, trying to communicate with Nightcrawler, to let him know that we were coming, and that he mustn't lose hope. But for some unknown reason, he hadn't been able to telepath a message to him. Kurt had been awake, which made it even more strange. Why didn't he just teleport his way out of there? We could only assume he was being forced to stay there under duress of a threat of some kind. That was a plausible explanation, but I could sense that neither Xavier nor Magneto seemed happy with it. Part of the plan seemed to be that Nightcrawler would teleport himself and his rescuer(s) out of the bottom level of the facility, before the poisonous gas was released. This was the part I had the least confidence in, since any number of unforeseen problems could occur.

I knew Chloe was scared, not so much for her own safety, but for mine. When consenting to become part of this mission, we had both agreed to expose ourselves to the risks and hazards that might arise. We both knew how to look after ourselves, and weren't afraid to face the danger. The same did not apply to our worries about each other. At any give time during the mission, I would know if I was safe or threatened, and what sort of situation I was in. I wouldn't have the same information about Chloe, and I would be worrying about her. If a threat arose, I would know whether or not I could handle it. I wouldn't know what was happening to Chloe. I was willing to risk my own life for the success of the mission. I wasn't willing to risk hers. I was willing to suffer pain, capture or torture for the sake of my friends. I wasn't willing to let the same thing happen to Chloe. I knew she felt the exact same way about me. 

I forced myself to get a grip, and stop worrying. Chloe could take care of herself, just as I could, just as any of us could. She had already told me off for being overprotective, and I couldn't treat her like a china doll. As she had said, she had to live her own life, and that meant facing the same perils that I would face.

At the same time, I knew I would never be able to live with it if she died. I knew my life would effectively be over, with half of my heart ripped out. That was why I was so afraid for her sake. If Chloe died, part of me died. Better that we die together than one of us die alone. I knew that if she was in mortal danger, I would give my life to save her. I knew that she would do the same for me. I knew, in a strange sort of way, that I would never forgive her for it, for saving my life, only for me to live on without her.

Both of us were feeling extremely emotional now, as if all the love we had for one another was going to pour out in burst, in case we never got another chance to share it. Tears were in Chloe's eyes, and she put her arms around me, holding me close. I hugged her tightly, as if I could keep her in my arms forever. We didn't kiss. This was possessive, protective love, not the fiery, passionate love that had engulfed us two nights ago. We drew apart, still holding hands, her eyes glistening wet.

"I wish I could hold you forever," she sobbed. "I wish we could come together and never part."

"We _have_ come together. We _will_ never part. You're part of me and I'm part of you."

"If I'd known this might be our last day together…"

I put a hand gently over her mouth, "It won't be. We're not going to die, Chloe."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, look at the people we've got on our side: Xavier, Cyclops, Magneto, Wolverine, Storm…I could go on. There's fourteen of us; fourteen of the most powerful beings on the planet. What on Earth could possibly stop us?"

She said nothing.

"Do you believe in God, Chloe?"

"Yes…"

"We're fighting on the side of right. That's got to be worth something up there."

"I guess so…Neil, promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"If I'm in danger, don't risk your life to come and save me. I could never live with myself if you died trying to rescue me."

"I was thinking the same thing earlier," I said. "Chloe, I can't promise you that. I could say the words, and mean it, but when the time came, my heart would rule my head and I wouldn't be able to stop myself."

"I know. That's what I would have said too. I feel exactly the same way."

"I will promise you one thing, if you'll promise me the same."

"What?"

"That we'll live through this and our love will last forever."

She smiled, "Promise."

"Promise."

We knew we didn't have long. It would take more time than we had to express to each other all that we wanted. I looked at my watch; it was nearly eleven already. Time seemed to have gone unnaturally quickly, as it always did when you had so much you wanted to say or do. Chloe took one last, longing look at the natural surroundings she loved so much, then she slipped her hand into mine, and we walked back to the mansion.

The final briefing was essentially a re-cap of the plan that had been defined to us the previous day. I knew everything had been thought through and considered as fully as possible in the time available, and all contingencies had been accounted for as best as possible. I knew that with everyone working together, the plan could work. That didn't stop the uneasy feeling in my heart from growing. Maybe it was just a natural fear of going out to face the unknown and rescue our friend from the very jaws of the enemy.

Jacqueline had once again shunned us, and was standing off to one side. To my surprise, she was beside Pyro, and talking with him in low tones. For once she wasn't looking at Chris and Fliss as if she'd like to murder one of them.

As the Professor continued to outline the mission to us, I forced myself to clear my mind, to remove all my worries about Chloe and the rest of my friends, and concentrate solely on memorising my part of the plan. I knew everyone else would be doing the same. As the briefing concluded, and we headed towards the jet's hangar, I glanced back at Xavier, remaining behind his desk, watching as we left. He would be staying behind; his lack of mobility meant that he was the obvious choice to stay at the school and look after the children. He could use Cerebro to communicate with us and co-ordinate the mission when necessary. Having been in command a short time myself, I had an idea of what he must be feeling. His plan, his mission, being carried out by the people he was sending: his students, his friends. He could do no more. He had masterminded the operation, and now it was down to us to carry it out. His feeling of powerlessness must have been almost unbearable. I knew he trusted us, and had confidence in us to make it work, but not being there himself made it so much harder.

Changing into our uniforms and boarding the jet passed in a blur. Storm and Cyclops were piloting, and the flight was estimated to take two or three hours, depending on weather conditions. Us teenagers sat in a group of eight in the mid-section of the jet, mostly in silence. Occasionally Chris, Bobby or John would attempt a joke, and the rest of us would laugh, not out of humour, but because we were nervous and trying not to show it. Looking around the interior of the plane, I glanced at each person in turn, remembering the conversations, experiences and fights that I had had with each of them. Magneto, Mystique, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Gaia, Iceman, Rogue, Shock, Shapeshifter, Pyro, Jacqueline, and myself, Oculus. Thirteen of us. Thirteen, an unlucky number for some. I hoped it wouldn't be unlucky for us.

Gaia had closed her eyes, her lips moving soundlessly, and appeared to be offering up a prayer; Shock was trying to hide her anxiety by laughing loudly at a joke Shapeshifter was telling; Jacqueline and Pyro were talking together once more, and I was sure I caught a hint of a smile on her face. Rogue looked nervous and ill at ease, moving closer towards Iceman. The seven of them were my friends, the only real friends my own age I had in the world. As yet I didn't know it, but one of them would not be coming back. In the years to follow, I often looked back and wondered how differently I might have acted if I had known.

The time passed quickly, and before I knew it, the jet was landing. Cyclops lowered the boarding ramp, and all other thoughts went out of my mind. The mission had begun.

When I stepped off the ramp, I had a quick look all round, gauging the terrain, seeing how the land lay.

"How far away are we?" Gaia asked.

"This is as close as we could get without being seen by their radar," said Cyclops. "We're still several miles away. The facility lies to the north."

I faced in the direction he was pointing, and squinted into the distance.

"I can see it," I said. "The front entrance is on the east. It's being guarded like the proverbial fortress, just like the Professor said."

"We'll worry about that later," said Cyclops. "Right now our priority is to get there. The sensors and traps are set within a two-mile radius of the base. We shouldn't have any trouble until we get that close, but stay sharp, all the same. Oculus, if you see anything in the distance that you think we should avoid, let me know."

I nodded.

"Let's go," he said.

We began to move out. The jet was concealed by a large rock formation and, barring ill fortune, would remain safe until our return. I was glad there had been no problems regarding command. The Professor had made clear his wish for Cyclops to lead the mission, and I had expected Magneto to make some kind of protest, but he had accepted it quite easily. Perhaps too easily…or maybe I was just being too suspicious. The truth was more likely in the fact that the majority of us would much rather follow Cyclops, and Magneto knew that. I was watching him carefully for any signs of deception, but so far Magneto had done nothing untoward.

We set out towards the facility at a fast pace, and Cyclops turned to ask me, "Can you see any patrols?"

I looked into the distance again, scanned the terrain close to the base, and nodded, "Yeah. Mostly guys in jeeps and buggies. They're covering overlapping patrol routes, always staying in sight of one another."

"Can we get past them without them noticing?" asked Pyro.

"I doubt it," I said.

"Once we get closer, we'll have to decide how to get by them," Cyclops said.

We walked on in silence, following his lead, drawing ever nearer to the complex known as Area 51. It was a hot day, and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Most of the rest appeared to be fine, but having grown up in the not particularly warm climes of Scotland, I wasn't used to the heat or the humidity. Gaia and Jacqueline seemed to be similarly unhappy, but Shapeshifter, immune to temperate change because of his mutation, did not have a problem.

I didn't know how far we'd walked – it must have been some miles – when Magneto raised his hand and said, "Stop!"

"What's wrong?" Cyclops asked.

"There are several concentrations of metal ahead. I think we've reached their sensors."

"Oculus, how far away is the facility?"

"About two miles," I said.

"Right," said Cyclops. "Here's what we do now. Oculus, Magneto, you two work together to find out exactly where the sensors are placed. If you can, find out what type of sensor each one of them is. Try to plot a route that will take us past as few as possible – preferably none."

Magneto and I moved ahead of the rest of the group slightly, and he said, "I can sense where each of the devices is located. You'll need to read my mind to get the information."

"Fine. Here I go."

I pushed out towards him with my mind, and began reading his thoughts. 

"You still want me to join you," I said in surprise.

"Yes. I was wondering if you had given it any more thought."

"Some. I think I understand why you feel the way you do, and…in a way…I agree. I've never had to experience anything like what you have, so I don't feel it as strongly as you. I can bring myself to hate individuals, even certain groups of people – but never the entire human race."

He nodded slowly, "I see. I won't try to convince you with a clever argument, because you're reading my mind and you'd see right through it. But I will say one thing."

"What?"

"You are powerful. More powerful than you realise. Possibly more powerful than even Charles Xavier realises. You have already demonstrated the potential of your multiple gifts, but you are not even an adult yet. In ten, maybe even five years, you may be the most powerful mutant on Earth."

"What about you and the Professor?"

"We will not be able to go on forever. Mutations are becoming more common in children nowadays, and soon it will be time for your generation to take over from old men such as us."

"And you want me to take over from you, and carry on your fight?"

"Forgive me. That was not a thought I wanted you to read. That would be my wish, yes, but you will have to make up your own mind."

"Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Yes. The main thing I wanted to say is this: power corrupts, especially in those too young to know how to use it wisely. That is why Charles hides from you the true potential of your abilities, because he is afraid you would grow too full of self-importance, and forget everything he has taught you."

"Magneto, get to the point. What are you trying to tell me?"

"All right. I think that you have the power to succeed in whatever you want to do. If you want to follow my path and fight against the human race, I believe you could destroy them. If you choose to follow Charles Xavier's teachings and seek peace with humans, I believe you could achieve that too. I will admit, when I tried to have you killed when we first met, it was because I was afraid of you. I saw what you could become. Just as your father did."

"How do you know about my father?" I snapped.

"I have my sources."

"You mean Jacqueline told you."

"Yes. I do not seek to deceive or incite you here, merely to enlighten you. You will be the supreme being on this planet one day, perhaps sooner than you might think. The future of the world is in your hands. You could do anything."

The weight of what he was saying hit me more heavily than I would have liked. The most powerful mutant on Earth…the supreme being…could that really be _me_ one day? I could do anything…anything at all…

No, I told myself, I'm not that. I'm no supreme being. I was born an ordinary human, and artificially changed into something I was never meant to be. Not a true mutant, and no longer a human. A half-caste, a nothing, the lowest of the low. That was how I saw myself. Could that person really become the most powerful man alive?

It was so confusing! In the depths of my heart, I saw myself as being worth nothing. My friends saw me as a calm, reasonable, good-humoured equal. Chloe saw me as an irreplaceable, indispensable part of her mind and heart, and her future husband. The Professor and the other X-Men saw me as a promising student with possible leadership capabilities. Magneto saw me as the future ruler of the world. Which of them should I believe?

I forced myself to stop thinking about it, and concentrate on the mission. I'd think about what Magneto had said later. For now, the mission. I had finished reading the locations of the sensors from his mind, and I gladly pulled my senses out of his head, surveying the land beyond, using my new knowledge to pinpoint the places where the sensors must be. I turned back to the rest of the group and called, "Jacqueline? Cyclops?"

The two of them looked over, and I said, "I know where the sensors are. Jacqueline, if you read my mind and send the images to Cyclops, he can plan our route."

She looked uncomfortable, either because she didn't want to go into my mind, or because she didn't want to use her power at all, but nevertheless acquiesced. I felt the strange light-headedness that occurred whenever a telepath entered my thoughts, and she began to send the visual locations of the sensors to Cyclops. This took a few minutes, and I tried not to have any thoughts that I would not want Jacqueline to know about. Eventually it was done, and she pulled out of my head. Cyclops began planning our path ahead, and I was about to return to my friends, when I realised something. When Jacqueline read my thoughts, she would have to have lowered her own mental shields to push her own senses out. I knew it would take her a little while to get them back up, and in the meantime I could probe her mind.

My first incursion was gentle, pushing my senses into the periphery of her mind, just to see if it would work. She detected me instantly, and her telepathic voice came into my head, fast and furious, _Get out of my mind_!

__

Why?

What are you doing in here? What do you want?

To see why you've become so distant. You were our friend for a while, back to normal, the Jacqueline we used to know and love. Then you changed.

Get out!

__

Jacqueline…

Get out! she screamed, _I'll kill you_!

I saw her lifting both of her arms, looking furiously at me, and I pulled out of her mind. She lowered her arms, and walked away from me, back to where Pyro was standing alone. I went back to stand with Gaia and Shapeshifter.

"You all right?" Shapeshifter asked. "You look like someone just hit you with a mortar shell."

"Oh, it was Jacqueline. I managed to get inside her mind. She yelled at me to get out, and threatened to kill me."

"Kill you?" Gaia repeated in shock.

"Yeah. She's still messed up in there. I don't know if she'll ever be completely sane again."

"If the Professor trusts her to come on this mission, he must think she's all right," she reasoned.

"I suppose so."

I didn't tell them what Magneto had said to me. I still wasn't sure if it was true, or if he was lying, trying to manipulate me. I hadn't sensed any deception when I was reading his thoughts, so he must have been telling the truth. Or, at least, he must have genuinely believed what he was saying. Could the Professor really be hiding my true potential from me? Was he really afraid of me going out of control with my own ego? I had never sensed him having any thoughts on this matter…but then the Professor was a powerful enough telepath that he could easily conceal anything he didn't want me to sense.

No. The mission. I had to concentrate on the mission. Cyclops had called us towards him, and we walked over.

"Right, I've got a route planned out," he said. "We'll be going pretty close to some of the sensors, so I'll quickly tell you a bit about them. There are four types of sensor we will encounter: motion, sound, pressure and heat. Motion sensors are the most dangerous, since there's no way we can fool them, and our tactic is simple. Avoid them. Sound sensors, same deal. Pressure sensors are only dangerous if we don't know where they are. Since we do, we simply avoid standing on them. Heat sensors: here we are slightly lucky. The devices we'll be dealing with are only designed to detect a certain level of heat; they can't detect sudden changes in temperature, and most importantly, they can't detect cold."

"That would be where I come in," said Iceman.

"Right. If you can fire a jet of ice that will cover the heat sensor, it won't be able to detect our presence. All right, let's move. Watch carefully where I step and don't veer from my path."

We set off once more, going slowly to maximise the care we took to avoid the sensors. I was still concerned about Jacqueline, and I decided I had to talk to her. I walked slightly faster to catch up with her, and fell into step beside her.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I obviously upset you by going into your mind. I didn't mean to hurt you. Forgive me?"

"Yeah," she said. "And I'm sorry too, for saying I would kill you. I was just desperate to get you out of there. I can't bear to have another person's mind inside me. It reminds me too much of having Mindstorm in there. I had to get you out; I felt like I was going to go crazy again."

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help you. I know you're still upset about Chris."

"I'm getting over it. I've found somebody else."

"You have? Who?"

"Who do you think?"

She walked on ahead until she was beside Pyro, and another rare smile lit up her face as he greeted her. My eyes widened in surprise. Jacqueline and _Pyro_? Surely fate could not have thrown together a more unlikely pairing. The fiery, impatient, unpredictable Pyro, and the vulnerable, unstable, slightly neurotic Jacqueline. What could they possibly have in common? I couldn't think of anything. Perhaps the answer lay in the vulnerabilities, the unhappiness, the insecurity that both of them possessed. Could it be that which had brought them together? Did they recognise in each other a person with the same problems?

We were moving in even closer to the base now, and it was now near enough that I could see it without having to use my mutation. The others could see it too, and I sensed Gaia's fear as she looked at the dark, forbidding spectacle of the heavily guarded complex. I squeezed her hand and tried to reassure her, "Don't worry. We'll be OK. The Professor's plan will work."

"I hope so."

The route we were following wound and twisted its way along the land on the south side of the base. It was keeping us as far away from the sensors as possible, and soon we would come to the perimeter of the area protected by electrified fences and other traps. The sensors had been the second line of defence, after the radar, and would have detected the intrusion of any normal invader. It was only due to Magneto's ability to sense _their_ presence, and my ability to visually plot the position of each of them, that we ourselves had got past. As Iceman coated the last heat sensor with a film of ice, we reached the end of the sensor field, finding our path blocked by the ten-foot high electrified fence that surrounded the whole facility. Cyclops called a halt and said, "Oculus, can you see Rat? We can proceed as long as we know he won't be able to smell us."

I looked at the facility again, and increased my focus, looking through the outer walls. Scanning the interior, I tried to find Rat. The top floor, which was at ground level, was mostly security stations and military equipment. The next lowest levels were staff accommodation and storage areas. Below those were what appeared to be research laboratories and a computer complex. Beneath that, the second-lowest floor was the hub of the complex's security system. The very lowest level housed the ultra high security research labs. I could see Kurt – being kept in a cell on this floor. I still couldn't understand why he didn't just teleport away. 

"I see Nightcrawler," I said. "He's awake. Why doesn't he just port out of there?"

"Maybe he can't see where to go," said Storm. "He can only teleport where he can see, remember."

"I can't see Rat anywhere," I frowned. "Nor Lutowski or Van Gaarde."

I sensed Gaia flinching at her tormentor's name. Jacqueline pushed out with her mind, "I can sense Rat. I think he's out with one of the patrols."

"Where?" said Cyclops.

"North side of the facility."

"How far away is he?"

"I can't be sure. Far enough away that he won't smell us. I'm certain of that."

"All right. We'll move. Shock, you're up."

Shock, immune to electricity, knelt in front of the fence and took hold of the bottom wire. She lifted it up, away from the ground, as far as its tautness would allow. This left a small space at the bottom for the rest of us to crawl through. Magneto, with his command of metal, could have done the same thing more easily, and I wondered why this hadn't been his responsibility. Perhaps Xavier didn't trust him not to 'accidentally' let the wire fall back on top of one of us. This was the riskiest part of the operation so far; even the slightest contact with the wire would send a lethal voltage into whoever touched it. There was plenty of space to crawl through, but it was still an uncomfortable proposition. Wolverine, whose body was part metal, was looking particularly unhappy. 

One by one, we slid through the gap, Shapeshifter taking no chances and changing into a liquid before doing so. When we were all on the other side, finally Shock twisted and squirmed underneath, unharmed by the wire touching her chest, and stood up to join us.

"Good work," said Cyclops. "Now it gets harder. We have to get across the ground to the facility, avoiding all their traps, and keeping out of sight of the patrols."

"There's no way we can sneak past the guards," I said, peering ahead. "It's all open ground with nowhere to hide."

"We can't risk attacking them," said Wolverine. "If they got a message off to their base, we'd be sunk. We'll have to distract them."

Cyclops nodded, "Storm, Gaia, Mystique, that's your job. Right now we have to get past their traps."

"What are we looking at?" Shapeshifter asked.

"Hidden explosive caches, triggered by lasers. Clearly anybody who manages to get past the sensors and the fence is extremely dangerous, and the safest thing to do is destroy them. The lasers are only visible in the infra red part of the spectrum, so they'll be invisible to any intruders."

"And I don't suppose anybody here can see infra red light?" Wolverine said sarcastically.

Cyclops gave him a grin, "Actually, I can. When I built my new visor, that was one of the modifications I made. Give me a few minutes to plan a route."

While he went to work, I stood next to Gaia and said, "Are you feeling OK about your part?"

She shrugged, "I think so. I just have to stay next to Storm and deal with any dogs that they have out on patrol. Then we'll be staying behind to cover the escape route. You'll be going inside the base, won't you?"

"Yes. I'll be with the main group going in and making our way down to the bottom floor, to find Kurt and destroy the weapons they're making."

"Do you – do you think they're testing their weapons on him? The way they were with us?"

"I hope not. He's strong, though, and he'll be able to hold together if they are. He may not know we're coming for him, but he won't have given up hope. I know he believes in God too, and he'll be praying for help."

"Let's hope we can bring it to him."

Before I could say anything more, we were interrupted. Cyclops had decided on a route, and we began to follow him. We were getting closer to the base, and the patrols. Jacqueline pushed out with her senses and told us that Rat was still miles away on the other side of the complex. When we had gone as far as we could safely go, Cyclops stopped us, and said, "If we go any further, we'll be seen. Now we need our distraction. Storm?"

Storm's eyes started to whiten as she used her power. Black clouds began to form overhead, and torrents of rain poured down around us. Fog started to drift on to the scene, killing all visibility for the guards below. The one or two jeeps that I could see out on patrol stopped, and the soldiers began looking up in amazement at the lashing rain, weather that was virtually unheard of this deep in the desert.

"Go," Magneto said to Mystique.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Mystique transformed, taking on the form of a uniformed army officer, a Major. She hurried down the small incline in front of us, towards the stationary jeeps.

"Now's our chance; let's go," Cyclops urged.

While Gaia and Storm remained behind, the rest of us moved forward, travelling in a tight group to avoid anyone being lost in the fog. Visibility was almost nil, but Storm seemed to have created a sort of bubble around us, keeping the worst of the bad weather away from us at all times. I could sense the presence of the guards as we passed; Mystique, posing as the major, was demanding to know why they weren't following some obscure military protocol. Like wraiths we flitted through the fog, getting safely past the soldiers, and then the mist began to thin, and we found ourselves nearing the south entrance of the base.

"Rat's moving east," said Jacqueline suddenly. "He'll be close enough to detect us soon."

"It's too late to go back," Cyclops said. "They'll know we're here soon enough anyway. Keep moving."

Staying low, keeping behind the cover of rocks when we could, we came closer and closer to the entrance. As we paused behind a particularly large rock formation, I looked through the rock to examine the entrance more closely. It was heavily guarded, as I knew it would be. Two tanks, one Apache helicopter, three machine-gun emplacements and at least thirty soldiers stood between us and the way into the facility. I didn't know if this was standard defensive protocol, or if they were expecting trouble. Perhaps the guard had been increased because they feared attacks from mutants. I sensed Mystique approaching, as she rejoined the group, having distracted the patrols long enough.

"All right," said Cyclops. "Time to split into three groups, as we planned. First: Rogue, borrow Shapeshifter's power, and the two of you find a way to sneak in. Head down for the lower levels and try to do as much as you can to disrupt or sabotage their security system. That'll make it easier for us to get back out. Second: Magneto, Pyro, Shock; keep the troops at the main entrance busy, to give the rest of us a chance to get inside. Remember, _no _killings. Third: the rest of us; we head into the base and go to find Nightcrawler. Any questions?"

There were none. Rogue tugged off her glove and put her hand to Shapeshifter's cheek, absorbing his power, pulling away before he could be seriously hurt. The two of them transformed into liquid state, and headed for the base. There were plenty of ventilation ducts that they should be able to use to get inside. Once inside, getting to the security level should be fairly easy too. It all depended on how long Rogue could keep mastery of his power. I told myself there was no point in my worrying about it; there was nothing I could do to help them. I had my own part to worry about.

I continued to look through the rock, watching as Magneto led the other two towards the entrance. When they were ready, he raised his arms and lifted the tank into the air. I could sense the shock and surprise felt by the soldiers, then the tank was sent into the side of the helicopter, crushing it completely. Pyro acted next, a huge ball of fire scorching from his lighter to ignite the fuel tanks of the ruined chopper. Soldiers fled from the blaze, some of them rolling on the ground to put out flames that had caught their clothes. Shock fired a bolt of lightning at one of the machine gun turrets, disabling it permanently.

The soldiers were well trained and overcame their panic quickly, seeking out their enemy. Shots were fired, but Magneto easily extended one hand to stop the bullets. Pyro launched another fire ball, this time discouraging the group of soldiers who were trying to get to the second tank. Shock blasted the tank with an electric bolt, knocking it out of commission. I nodded to Cyclops, "They're doing it. We can move now."

The six of us who were left began running towards the entrance, unseen in the cloud of smoke that was rising from the exploded helicopter, past the soldiers, who had been herded away by the attack, and towards the doors that led into the base. The time for stealth was over. All that mattered now was speed, that and staying alive. The doors were locked electronically; Cyclops blasted them apart with his visor. Wolverine led the way inside, his claws extended. Beyond the ruined door, there were more guards, all of them overcoming their shock and hastily reaching for and loading their weapons. I raised one hand, pulling the guns from their arms, sending them spinning across the room. The soldiers panicked, some of them reaching for sidearm pistols. I sensed Jacqueline using her power, entering their minds to render them unconscious. They fell to the floor, no longer a threat. Reinforcements were coming, along a corridor to the left. I sensed their presence before they appeared, and quickly turned to Iceman, "There's more coming! Block off that corridor!"

Ice burst from his fingertips, creating a solid wall that acted as a barrier.

"The elevators are this way, come on," Cyclops urged.

We followed him down the corridor to the right. A soldier with a bazooka appeared from around a corner, but Wolverine was too fast for him. Slicing the weapon apart with his claws, he floored the man with a sideways kick to the face. The building was suddenly shaken by the force of an explosion from outside, and I quickly pushed out with my senses, fearing the worst. No…Magneto and the other two were still unharmed. I could still sense the same number of humans, so it seemed they hadn't killed anybody. Magneto was keeping his promise so far.

The elevator was guarded by two more soldiers, who were slow to react, and Mystique knocked both of them out, seemingly without even breaking sweat. We stopped by the lift door; a chance to get our breath back. Cyclops looked closely at the door, "OK, the lift won't operate without a retinal scan. Mystique?"

She nodded, and morphed into the shape of one of the unconscious guards, walking over to put her eye to the scanner beside the door. The display flashed green, and the lift doors opened. Mystique changed back into her usual form, and we entered the elevator.

"The third bottom floor is the lowest this will take us," Cyclops said. "After that we need to get out and go through more security procedures, before they'll let us go any further down."

"So what's the plan, chief?" said Wolverine sarcastically.

"Simple enough that even you should be able to handle it. Knock out anybody who doesn't like the look of us. Then Mystique can take on the appearance of Colonel Lutowski – you _do_ know what he looks like?"

She nodded, "I ran into him in that other base of his, the one we destroyed."

"Fine. If anyone has access to the bottom floor, it'll be him. Get down there and find these weapons they're building, plus any research papers on the subject. Destroy them. Once you've done that, find Nightcrawler, and get him out. With luck, you'll be able to get back here before anyone realises you're not Lutowski. Of course, if they _do_ realise, the nerve gas will be released. In that case you'll need to get Kurt to teleport both of you back up here. The gas won't spread off the bottom floor."

"Wait a minute," said Wolverine. "I thought you said Kurt couldn't teleport to where he can't see!"

"That's right. Oculus, that's where you come in. Look through the floor until you can see Nightcrawler, then telepath your vision to him. He'll be able to see where he is in relation to us, and so he can port to where we are."

"Good thinking," said Iceman appreciatively.

"Hey, it's my job."

The elevator stopped at the third from bottom floor, and we prepared ourselves for whatever was waiting outside. There were four guards, all of them armed and ready for us; obviously the whole base had been alerted by now. They began firing at us the moment the elevator doors opened. Jacqueline and I both used our telekinesis to stop the incoming bullets, and Wolverine and Mystique ran forward to knock the four men unconscious. We remained alert for a few moments longer, in case more soldiers should arrive, but I couldn't sense anybody else close to us. Cyclops turned back to the elevator, "Right. This will need retinal and fingerprint scans from authorised personnel before it will take us down any further. Again, Mystique, please."

She changed form to take on the shape of Lutowski. I'd seen him in photographs, but had yet to meet him face to face, and it felt strange to be standing next to him, even if I knew it was Mystique. She pressed her thumb to the fingerprint reader, it flashed green, then she stooped to put her eye to the retinal scanner. It too gave a green light of acceptance, and the doors slid open. Mystique, still in the Colonel's form, walked in.

"What about the rest of us?" said Wolverine.

"We wait," said Cyclops. "There will still be other troops on this level. You and Iceman go to hold them off if necessary. Oculus, find Nightcrawler."

Wolverine and Iceman hurried further along the corridor to watch out for reinforcements. I looked down at the floor, and through it. I could see on to the second bottom level, the security complex. Pushing my vision further, I was down on to the lowest level. Where was Nightcrawler? I tried to remember where I'd seen him before, and looked in that direction.

"I can sense Rat," Jacqueline said suddenly. "He's in the facility, on one of the upper floors. He's heading for the elevator."

"You and I will wait here and be ready for him," Cyclops said. "Kill him only if you have no other choice."

"Understood."

"Can you sense Rogue and Shapeshifter? What's their status?"

She concentrated for a second, then said, "They're on the security level. They haven't been detected. They're trying to disable the computer system."

"Magneto and the others?"

"They're alive. They've got the soldiers on the run, but I don't think it will last long."

"It won't," Cyclops agreed. "They'll only be able to keep them busy for so long, then we'll have to get out of here."

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"A matter of minutes. Sooner or later the soldiers will figure out that we're deliberately not killing them. They'll get bolder, and they'll force us into retreat."

"What if Magneto breaks his word and starts killing them?" asked Jacqueline.

"He won't," I said. "Ah – I can see Kurt."

"Where's Mystique?"

"She's looking around the labs. There are a few researchers there, but they obviously think she's Lutowski."

"How can you be so sure Magneto will keep his promise?" Jacqueline demanded.

"Because I know him," I said. "The Professor trusts him, and so do I."

Neither of them replied. I could sense Cyclops feeling uneasy; he obviously trusted the Professor's judgement, but at the same time it was understandably hard for him to be sure of Magneto.

"What's happening down there?" he asked.

"Mystique's ordered the researchers out of the room. She's piling up the weapons and research documents, and I think she's going to set fire to them."

"Good idea. That should start a panic, and the confusion will work in her favour."

I watched as Mystique piled up the rest of the materials and then as she looked around for some way to start the blaze. Bottles and tubes of chemicals were lined up on shelves around the laboratory, and she grabbed a few, pouring them on to the pile. The combination was explosive, and soon the entire lab was engulfed by flame. Mystique hurried out of the room, and I telepathed to her, letting her know where Nightcrawler was. She ran down the corridor in his direction.

The fire must have been detected, and a flurry of activity began on the lowest floor. Somebody hit the fire alarm button, and several others started attacking the inferno with extinguishers. A gas was released from spigots on the roof, and I panicked for a moment, thinking it was the nerve gas. It was some kind of fire-fighting vapour, as the flames in the lab began to die. I noted with satisfaction, however, that the weapons and documents had been completely incinerated, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Never again would a mutant have to suffer pain the way Chloe and I had.

"The weapons have been destroyed," I said.

"Where is she now?" asked Cyclops.

"Heading towards Kurt. Oh, damn. I think she's been found out. There's soldiers running after her. Ah – one of them's the real Lutowski. That must be how they knew she was fake."

"I was hoping she wouldn't run into him," said Cyclops. "Never mind; we can't change what's happened. You'd better start telepathing to Kurt so he can get them out of there."

I watched as Mystique managed to outrun her pursuers, turning a corner to move out of their sight. She stopped at the door behind which Kurt was imprisoned, and I sent to her, _That's the one. Hurry._

The door required fingerprint access, and she pressed her thumb against its reader. The light flashed green and the door opened. Mystique entered, morphing back into her natural form as she did so.

__

Mystique? What are you doing?

I pushed out, trying to read her mind for a response. I couldn't sense anything.

__

Mystique?

Nothing. Maybe she was ignoring me. It probably didn't matter. I decided I had better start talking to Kurt.

__

Nightcrawler? It's Oculus. We've never met, but I'm working with the X-Men. We're here to help you. I'm going to send you my vision; use it to teleport yourself and Mystique out of there.

There was no response. I couldn't sense his thoughts.

__

Nightcrawler?

Again, nothing. Maybe he didn't trust me.

__

Nightcrawler! Mystique! Can either of you hear me?

Something was wrong. Mystique had stopped in the centre of the room, and Nightcrawler was still hunched in the corner, neither of them making any moves to escape. I pushed my mind out towards them, increasing my telepathic power, trying to find out what was going on.

Nothing. I couldn't sense anything. I couldn't even sense their presence. It was as if they weren't there.

"How's she doing?" Cyclops asked.

"I don't know. Something's gone wrong. I don't understand."

"Just send your vision to Kurt and tell them to get out of there!"

I shook my head, "I can't! They can't hear me. I can't sense them. It's as if there's something blocking my telepathy."

"Let me try," said Jacqueline.

A few moments passed, then she said in confusion, "I can't sense them either. It's like there's a hole, a vacuum, where my senses can't go."

The soldiers had arrived at the door down below, and Mystique was trapped. She tried to attack them, but for some reason she was not moving with her usual grace and agility. Her movements were clumsy and sluggish, and she stumbled, falling on to the floor.

From further down the corridor, I heard Wolverine's voice yelling, "Cyclops! We've got company! We can't hold them off for long! What's keeping you guys?"

"Oculus, what's going on down there?" Cyclops snapped, beginning to lose his cool.

"I don't know!" I retorted. "It doesn't make any sense! Hang on…wait...I think I know what's wrong."

"What?"

"We can't sense what's going on down there, and Mystique and Kurt seem to be unable to use their powers. What if there's some sort of – I dunno, some kind of force-field – that's cancelling out their mutations?"

"What? Impossible!"

"Is it?" I countered. "This is the army's top anti-mutant research lab! Who knows what they've developed down there?"

We heard Wolverine yelling again, "Cyclops! What the hell's taking so long?!"

"We haven't got time," Jacqueline said. "Let's just cut our losses and go!"

"No!" Cyclops snapped. "We're not leaving Kurt or Mystique behind!"

"Magneto and the others are being forced to retreat!" she exclaimed. "We can't wait any longer! What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. Just give me a minute; I'll think of something."

"We haven't got a minute!"

"Shut up!"

My eyes still focused on events two floors below, I watched in horror as the soldiers blocking the cell door parted slightly, to allow another man through.

Elias Van Gaarde.

"Oh God, no," I whispered.

There was no question; we _had_ to get them out of there. There was no possibility of leaving Nightcrawler or Mystique to the mercy of my father's sadistic research partner. I pulled my vision back to look at Cyclops, who was desperately trying to piece together a plan to rescue our mission from becoming a disaster.

"Van Gaarde's down there," I told him. "We've got to get them out _now_."

Before he could answer, the elevator doors behind him slid open, to reveal a solitary figure standing inside the lift. 

Rat.

He sprang at Jacqueline, taking her by surprise, his claws ripping at her chest. She screamed and fell to the ground, clutching her abdomen, blood seeping between her fingers. I ran to her side, kneeling by her, praying her wounds weren't fatal, my hopes sinking when I got a closer look at her body. Rat jumped, twisted in mid-air, and delivered a spinning kick that knocked Cyclops' visor into the air. Cyclops instinctively closed his eyes. Rat, his claws extended, flung himself at the blinded X-Man. I desperately launched a psychic blast, hitting both of them. Cyclops was thrown into the wall, and fell on to his back, disoriented and temporarily stunned. Rat rolled when he hit the floor, and rose to face me, his teeth bared, his eyes twin yellow balls of hate.

I tried to stop myself from panicking. Jacqueline was dying beside me, Cyclops was out of it, Mystique and Nightcrawler were in grave peril, and I could sense our other battles were going against us. As if that weren't bad enough, I had to deal with Rat, who was buoyed by adrenaline and intent on slaughter. Things had gone horribly, terribly wrong; somewhere along the line our plans had slipped off the rails. I could sense Jacqueline's life ebbing away; she had mere minutes left. Rat advanced, claws out in readiness to tear me to shreds, and I prepared to fight him in any way I could.


	14. When a Friend Dies

Chapter Twelve: When a Friend Dies

There was no time to think of a plan. I had to do the first thing that came into my mind. Wrenching myself to my feet, I grabbed Rat, putting both hands around his neck, squeezing as hard as I could. This was his weakness. Fast and agile as he might be, his small form possessed no great physical strength. He clutched at my wrists with his hands, his claws tearing into my flesh, desperately trying to push me away. I held on as tightly as I could, feeling him beginning to panic as he struggled for breath. Both of us knew he didn't have the strength to free my grip.

Rat, however, had other weapons. Twisting his head into position, his sank his teeth into my arm, and bit down hard. His sharp, pointed fangs pierced my skin easily, and his poison began to pour into my bloodstream. I could feel it spreading throughout my body, weakening me. I felt my grip on his throat begin to weaken, and he fought with renewed vigour, sensing his chance to get away. Anger coursed through my veins as I entered my berserk state, my strength increasing, constricting his throat even further. Rat choked and gasped, his claws ripping into my arms in a last flurry of desperation, then he sagged in my grasp, and I knew he was dead.

Letting his body fall to the floor, I felt my adrenaline rush dissipate, and my body still succumbing to the effects of the poison. I was starting to feel dizzy, and blackness began to creep in at the sides of my vision. I wavered, stumbled, and fell on to my hands and knees. Both of my arms were a bloody mess, torn to pieces by Rat's claws. I would have been in agony if the poison hadn't been dulling my senses. Jacqueline was lying not far away, still breathing, clinging on to life by the narrowest of threads. She'd lost a horrific amount of blood from the wounds Rat had inflicted, and there was nothing on Earth that could keep her alive.

Except my healing power. I'd forgotten all about it since using it to cure Magneto. It was our only hope. Crawling desperately across the floor towards Jacqueline, I knew I had to use it on both of us simultaneously. Both of us had mere seconds left to live, and no time could be wasted. Pulling myself along as fast I could, ignoring the pain, I grabbed Jacqueline's hand, tugging at her glove. I didn't have the strength or the co-ordination to pull it off. With an almighty effort, I dragged myself along another foot, and placed my hand on her cheek. The poison had almost completed its work; I could barely move.

__

Please, God. Save us.

I took a deep breath and called on my healing power. Several moments passed, and nothing happened. It wasn't working. My body was too weak. I couldn't – 

My healing power erupted from my heart like a nuclear explosion, sweeping through my body like a shockwave, destroying the poison, mending my arms, sealing my wounds, cleansing my entire body of Rat's attacks. It didn't stop there, passing through my hand into Jacqueline's body, pulling her back from death's door, healing her entire body and restoring her to consciousness. She jerked upright and grabbed my arm, "What happened?"

"Calm down. You're all right now. I healed us."

"Where's Rat?"

"He's dead. Can you stand?"

I got to my feet, and helped Jacqueline to hers. She swayed giddily and grabbed hold of me for support.

"I feel really dizzy," she said breathlessly.

"You've lost a lot of blood," I told her. "But you'll be fine. Listen, I can't stay with you. Wake Cyclops, and both of you get upstairs. Telepath to the others and get them to meet you there."

"What about you?"

"I'm going down to help Kurt and Mystique."

"You can't do it alone! Let me go with you!"

"No. Jacqueline, you can hardly stand. I have to go alone."

"Why you?"

"Because I'm the only one who can do it. Magneto wasn't lying to me earlier."

"Lying to you about what?"

I shook my head, "Never mind. Look, Cyclops is coming round. I'm going downstairs now. You get up to the ground floor. Kurt will teleport us up there."

"It's too risky! I'm coming with you!"

"Jacqueline, get upstairs. That's an order."

"An order?"

"Yes. The Professor said that if anything happened to Cyclops, I was to take over."

"You?"

"Yes, me. Magneto insisted; I didn't know why at the time. I think I do now."

"Why, then?"

"Tell you later. I'm going down now. Get to safety."

She said nothing, and I walked into the elevator. I knew it wouldn't go downwards without valid fingerprint and retinal ID. 

"Let's see if I can control this manually," I muttered to myself, raising both arms.

Pushing out with my senses, I could feel the shape and contours of the lift, and the mechanism that would lower it to the bottom level. I used my telekinesis to push the motors, and the elevator began moving down.

__

All right, Magneto, I thought to myself, _let's hope I'm everything you think I am._

Once the motors had started, the lift descended of its own accord; I didn't have to keep using my power. It came to rest at the bottom floor with a slight jolt, and I used my mind to open the doors. Luckily, there was nobody outside. I couldn't sense where Nightcrawler was, but I could remember the layout of the level from seeing it earlier. Turning right, I hurried down the corridor, pushing my senses out to detect the presence of any humans. There were two, just ahead. I came to a corner; they were standing around the other side, engaged in conversation. I looked through the wall.

Lutowski and Van Gaarde.

" – amazing. Explain it to me again," the Colonel was saying.

"Well, it's not easy to explain it to a non-scientific man, but I'll do my best," said Van Gaarde, pushing his spectacles up on to the bridge of his nose. "Basically the device emits a special type of radiation that suppresses the biochemical reactions needed for a mutation to manifest itself in a mutant's body. In layman's terms, it stops any targeted mutant from being able to use their powers."

"Amazing," Lutowski said again.

"Yes. It will render mutants entirely harmless, enabling us to conduct tests on them at our leisure."

"What of the two you are working on just now?"

Van Gaarde glanced behind him, in the direction of the room where my friends were being held, "Strange, actually. I've been examining their DNA and there seems to be a similarity. They may in fact be related."

Mystique and Nightcrawler were related? This was news to me. 

"They are not dangerous?" Lutowski was saying.

"Oh no. Without their powers they are no more harmful than children. However, I would still like to know how the female managed to get in here."

Lutowski smiled confidently, "Mutants are invading. They took us by surprise, but they are few in number, and we're getting the upper hand over them. I sent Rat to kill the ones on Level 4. He should have done so by now."

He took a communicator from his belt and spoke into it, "Rat?"

No response. Hardly surprising, really, considering Rat was dead.

"Rat?"

"He's dead," I told them, as I stepped around the corner.

Both of them reacted in shock, Lutowski reaching for his pistol and screaming, "Mutant!"

Van Gaarde ducked behind him, and the Colonel began firing at me. Calmly, easily, I raised one hand, stopping the bullets, which fell harmlessly on the floor. Pulling the weapon away from him, I summoned it into my own hand. The two men looked at me in fear, and began to back away. I tossed the gun aside and advanced on them.

"Are you going to kill us?" the scientist quavered.

"I really should," I said. "But I'm more worried about my friends. I'll talk to you later."

Earlier I had seen Jacqueline knock men unconscious by simply entering their minds and shutting down their consciousness. Now I did it myself, pushing into both men's heads, finding the part of their brains that linked body and mind, and hitting it like a switch. Both men's eyes rolled into the backs of their sockets, and they slumped to the ground. Unconscious, not dead. I had no time to settle any scores or seek revenge. I ran past them.

The room where they had Kurt imprisoned was locked, and four guards stood outside, weapons at the ready. I jerked the weapons away from them and entered their minds, sending them to sleep. Stepping over the four slumbering forms, I approached the door. Fingerprint ID required. I lifted one of the unconscious guards, pressing his thumb to the scanner. It flashed green light at me, and the door slid open.

Without thinking, I rushed inside. Instantly it was as if a heavy sack had been thrust over my head, cutting off sight and sound. I panicked for a moment before realising what it was. My mutant powers were deactivated, and my sixth sense, my telepathy, was inactive. For a moment I was terrified by my sudden vulnerability, then I forced myself to stay calm, and looked around the room. Nightcrawler sat hunched in one corner, staring at the floor, and Mystique stood uncomfortably nearby, looking down at him.

"Come on!" I said. "We've got to get out of here!"

Both of them glanced up in surprise when they heard my voice. Suspicion crossed Nightcrawler's face as he looked at me.

"It's all right," Mystique said to him. "He's a friend. He's with your people."

At that moment, sirens began blaring in the emptiness of the corridor outside, and an urgent voice came over the tannoy system, "Emergency! Emergency! Security hazard! All personnel use breathing equipment _immediately_! This is not a drill, repeat, _not _a drill! Poisonous gas will be released in ten seconds!"

"Come on!" I yelled. "We have to go _now_!"

The two blue-skinned mutants hurried across the room towards me, and the three of us stepped into the corridor outside. We each breathed a sigh of relief as we felt our powers returning to us. The guards were groggily fumbling for the breathing equipment strapped to their backs, and the voice came over the tannoy again, "Seven seconds…six…five…"

"Listen to me!" I declared to the other two. "We are going to die if you do not do exactly as I say! Nightcrawler, I'm going to send you an image of the ground floor of the building; use your power to teleport us up there! Don't argue, there's no time! Get ready!"

Staring at the ceiling, I pushed my vision through it, up through each of the underground floors of the base, until I reached the ground floor. Jacqueline and Cyclops were there, with Wolverine and Iceman.

"Three seconds…two…" the voice continued.

I sent my vision to Kurt, and said, "Now!"

Realising it was our only chance, he didn't argue. Putting one arm around me and the other around Mystique, Nightcrawler took a deep breath and called upon his power.

"One…zero…"

There came the sound of gas hissing into the corridor, the very instant we teleported away. For a fraction of a second, some infinitesimal amount of time that could never be measured, we were nowhere, suspended in time-space. Then we re-appeared on the ground floor, and I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

Wolverine jumped slightly as we materialised in front of him. He was supporting Cyclops, who was still slightly dazed, and probably didn't realise who was helping him. Jacqueline, still dizzy and faint, was being steadied by Iceman.

"You're all safe," Wolverine said. "Nice job. Good to see you again, Kurt."

"And you," Nightcrawler replied in his thick German accent. "What now?"

"Our mission's accomplished," I said. "We regroup with the others and then back to the jet. Let's go!"

Mystique and Nightcrawler hurried to the exit, with Wolverine and Cyclops close behind them. I helped Iceman with Jacqueline, who was relying heavily on his support.

"The weapons? Were they destroyed?" Iceman asked.

"Yes."

I pushed out with my senses, and found Magneto, fighting a losing battle outside. I knew he desperately wanted to kill the soldiers out there, but he was bound by his promise, and forced to keep them alive. 

__

We're on our way out, I telepathed to him, _clear the way if you can._

Not a moment too soon, he replied with his own telepathy.

As we left the building, the afternoon sun burned down painfully into my eyes, forcing me to close them briefly, and in that time I was unaware of what was going on around me, only of running away from the base, half-carrying Jacqueline, following where Iceman pulled us. When I opened them again, we were past the worst of the fighting, and Pyro and Shock were running to join us. Magneto was still keeping the troops busy, buying us some more time. Dropping a ruined tank in the path of the soldiers, he turned and joined the rest of us as we sped from the facility.

Rogue and Shapeshifter were waiting, hidden behind one of the rocky outcroppings; I could sense them before we got there. 

"We disabled the power for the security grid!" Shapeshifter yelled, falling into step beside me.

The twelve of us continued running, back to where Storm and Gaia should be. I searched with my mind, and found them, unharmed, where they should be. 

There were no patrols standing in our way; obviously they had been recalled to the base to help with the fight. We had a clear run across the open ground that led to the steep rocky inclines.

"You're safe!" Gaia cried in relief when she saw we were all there.

"Wait a minute!" I said, putting out a hand to stop the rest. "The laser tripwires and the explosives. The electric fences. It's going to take time to get past those. The military will catch up with us!"

"No they won't," said Rogue.

I turned to Cyclops. He was still dizzy and stunned. I nearly swore. Without him we couldn't see the lasers, and we couldn't avoid the explosives. _There was no way across_. We were trapped. A minefield of explosive on one side, and the Area 51 guard on the other. Looking back at the base, I saw a second Apache helicopter, lifting off from a hidden pad, on its way to intercept us. I couldn't believe it was going to end this way. To have accomplished our mission without inflicting a single human casualty, then to be unable to get back home…

"We're stuck," I said.

"No we're not," Shapeshifter retorted. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? We disabled the security grid. The lasers and the fence are out of action."

__

Thank you, God.

"All right, then let's go. Before that chopper gets near us!"

"I can destroy it easily," said Magneto.

"No! No killings! You gave the Professor your word!"

We turned and began running up the hill, the explosive caches beneath our feet posing no threat without the lasers to trigger them, drawing ever closer to the fence. When we got there, Wolverine extended his claws to slash through it, but Shock stopped him. She put her hand on the wire and said, "No power. Go ahead."

The fence was of tough, industrial strength wire, but Wolverine's adamantium claws made short work of it. When he had cut a hole big enough to get through, the fourteen of us hurried through, into the sensor field. The sensors that had been such a danger earlier, requiring the most careful avoidance, were now of no regard. They already knew we were there; the sensors weren't going to tell them anything new. Glancing back, I saw the helicopter getting closer. I could sense humans on board, but they weren't close enough for me to identify them.

"Get down!" I yelled.

We hit the ground as the chopper flew directly overhead, its twin machine-guns spitting bullets in our direction. Magneto had a hand outstretched and was deflecting the bullets. The helicopter turned and came around for another pass.

"We can't hold them off forever!" Wolverine yelled. "The jet's still miles away!"

"How are we going to get to it?" Gaia cried.

A grin crossed my face as I had an idea, "The helicopter. We'll take it off their hands."

The chopper in question was now flying straight towards us once more. This time it launched a missile, which came streaking directly at us. I had no time to raise my hand to try and push it off course; I could only watch as a stream of frost flew from Iceman's hand at the missile, freezing it into a solid mass of ice, which plummeted out of the air, and shattered on the ground in front of us.

"Good one!" Shapeshifter enthused.

"Magneto!" I said. "Pull the chopper down on to the ground; they'll be forced to land! The rest of you, take cover in the rocks!"

Whoever was piloting the helicopter clearly wanted to bring it round on another strafing run, but Magneto had other ideas. Lifting both hands, he used his power to bring the helicopter down, towards the rocky surface, where the landing apparatus was hastily activated, and the craft performed an ungainly landing on the uneven ground. Crouching behind a rock, I watched as six men jumped out of the chopper, five with machine guns and one without. Four soldiers I didn't know, plus Lutowski and Van Gaarde. The scientist was the only one without a weapon. Those two must have had breathing equipment and survived the nerve gas.

"They're here somewhere!" I heard Lutowski yelling. "Find them and kill them!"

Myself and my friends were all hidden in the labyrinth of twisted and misshapen rocks that dotted the landscape. I sensed Wolverine moving towards the soldiers, keeping himself concealed, using his sense of smell to guide himself near them. Mystique had transformed to take on the form of one of them, and was edging her way forward also. Magneto was making for the helicopter.

The six men split up into pairs, combing the landscape, their weapons ready to fire, keeping in constant radio contact with each other. It didn't help them much as the first pair was attacked by Wolverine, leaping out from behind cover, slicing cleanly through one of the machine guns, kicking its owner to the floor. The second man reacted quickly, bringing his weapon up to bear on Wolverine. Nightcrawler teleported directly behind the soldier, chopping him in the back of the neck. Two down, four to go. After that we would be safe. The other troops at the base would not be following us; after all, they didn't know the lasers were deactivated. As soon as they found out, they'd make their way across, but we'd be long gone by then. 

The second pair of soldiers were nervous, alerted to the demise of two of their comrades. Neither of them really stood a chance as Mystique back-flipped towards them, kicking the two of them to the ground simultaneously. One tried to get back up; she knocked him out with a blow to the head. Now only Lutowski and Van Gaarde remained. They had disappeared into the rocky maze, and I pushed out my senses, trying to find them. They were moving together, coming closer to us. I was having difficulty pinpointing their exact location; I had used my powers a lot during the course of the mission, and my telepathic strength was beginning to wane. 

I looked around at the rest of our group, making sure everybody was all right. A few looked shaken, but nobody was hurt. Cyclops was back on his feet, and nodded to me as we exchanged glances. Storm, Iceman, Shock and Shapeshifter were near him. I couldn't see any of the others. The helicopter was sitting unguarded, and Magneto was climbing inside. If we could fit all of us on board, it would take us back to the jet, then we would be on our way back to the mansion. I heard voices from my left, and looked in that direction, to see Jacqueline and Pyro, hiding behind the same rocky outcrop, smiling at each other and locked in conversation. I grinned myself; it was a relief to finally see Jacqueline looking happy after everything she had gone through. She'd had her heart set on loving Chris, and her hopes and her heart were broken when he had revealed he loved another. Now it seemed she had found somebody else.

"…but you know I love you," Pyro was saying to her. "I've never met anybody who understands me the way you do."

She was still a little dizzy, but she looked him in the eyes and said, "I know. I think I love you too. I've only known you a day, but already it seems…"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean, I already knew you from when I was Psyche, and she didn't like you…but she wasn't me. I do like you. John?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want us to part. I know that when we go home, we'll go our separate ways. You'll go away with Magneto and I'll stay at the school. I don't want to part. I want to stay with you. Can't you come back to the school?"

"I…I dunno. Would they have me back?"

"They accepted _me_ back. There's no harm in trying."

Pyro hesitated, then grinned, "All right. I'll do it. For you. I don't want us to be apart either."

Jacqueline smiled.

She was still smiling when the bullet hit her in the chest. Lutowski, firing from a crouched position, grinned, and ducked back behind a rock for cover. Jacqueline swayed for a moment, then she fell lifeless on to the ground.

"No!" Pyro screamed.

I was on my feet, forgetting the danger, and running to her side. Her eyes stared blankly up at the sky as Pyro cradled her body, shaking her, trying to rouse her back awake. There came another gunshot, and a bullet ricocheted off the ground next to us. Lutowski dived back into cover, and Pyro screamed, "I'll _kill_ you! You _f**king_ bastard, I'll f**king _kill_ you!!"

Flicking on his lighter, all semblances of self-control lost, he dashed recklessly towards the rock where Lutowski had last disappeared. I put my hand to Jacqueline's face, and gently closed her eyes. Lutowski jumped out once more, but Pyro took him by surprise, kicking the weapon out of his hands. The Colonel scrambled to get it back, but a jet of fire created by Pyro hit him squarely in the back, searing into his body. Lutowski screamed, rolling around, trying desperately to smother the flames. Pyro was relentless now, more and more fire bursting from his lighter to engulf the Colonel's body.

From behind me came a mocking laugh, and a voice said, "Get up."

I turned to see Van Gaarde, holding a pistol, pointing it directly at my heart.

"Hands by your sides!" he snapped.

I didn't obey. I didn't care any more. Anger snapped in me, and I raised both arms, flinging all the mind power I had left out towards him. He tried to pull the trigger, but was hit by the psychic blast, and thrown on to the ground. I picked up the pistol, and knelt by his struggling form. 

The sadist. The madman. The man who'd tortured Chloe, and who'd made me torture Chloe. Now he was at my mercy. I placed the gun to his head; all I had to do was pull the trigger. My finger tightened on it.

In my mind, I imagined I could hear the Professor's voice, as if he was speaking to me over a great distance

__

Don't do it.

Why not? I said.

__

You can't give in to hate. Don't kill him.

Of course. He was using Cerebro, and telepathing to me. Suddenly another voice came into my mind.

__

Kill him.

Magneto.

__

Erik, stay out of this!

__

Let him decide for himself, Charles. I've already told him the truth.

Neil, don't kill him!

Kill him, Oculus.

Their voices came simultaneously, both urging me to act. It was a choice, I knew, a choice that would affect the rest of my life. Follow Xavier, stay with the X-Men, and fight for peace and harmony. Or follow Magneto, join the Brotherhood, discover my full potential and rule over the world as I chose. In my mind's eye I could see myself, the supreme being, in command of everyone and everything. I saw my enemies coming before me and begging for mercy. I saw my friends beside me, carrying out my commands. I could see Chloe, by my side…

…no. Chloe would not want that. Chloe would not want to be the wife of a world emperor. Chloe wanted to be the wife of the caring, loving man she thought I was. Was I really? What was I? I didn't know. This was the juncture, the turning point, that would define who I was and what I fought for. I only had to choose.

I chose.

Tossing the pistol aside, I heard Van Gaarde's gasp of terrified relief, as I rose to my feet. Pyro was back, kneeling by Jacqueline, still shaking her, speaking words of desperation, "Jacqueline? Can you hear me? Speak to me; say something! Jacqueline!"

"Pyro," I said gently.

"Jacqueline!"

"Pyro, she's dead."

"No! She can't be! We've got a future together…we love each other…we…"

There were no more words, and tears began to drip from his eyes on to the ground. I put my hand on his shoulder, knowing there was nothing I could possibly say that would comfort him. I could only imagine how he felt. I knew how badly I had felt when I thought Chloe was dead. I could only begin to imagine how he would be haunted by the memories of this day: seeing Jacqueline shot before his eyes after they had just declared their love for one another.

There were others around us now; Chloe, Chris and Felicity were among them, but they were just images and noises in the background. I could only think of Jacqueline, of Pyro and Jacqueline, of love that had been ripped asunder, of the future that would never be. I turned my face to the ground and, for only the third time in my life, I wept. I wept for Jacqueline, for the life she would never have, for the life she had never had; ten years of sorrow and suffering, alleviated only by the brief joy she had found in the last few days, which made her death all the more tragic. I wept for the fact that she had come back to us, only to be taken away again. The friend who was ours. The friend that was lost.

The End

A/N: not quite, there's still the epilogue to come.


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue:

The four of us stood in the Professor's office, as he sat facing us from behind the desk.

"There is nothing I can say that will make it any easier for you," Xavier said. "Here we can teach you many important things, but nobody can teach or learn how to cope with the death of a friend."

Chloe held back a sob, and her hand tightened around mine. She was trying hard to keep herself under control, to save her tears until we were on our own. Chris was staring blankly at the carpeted floor in front of him; I wasn't sure if he was listening or not. Felicity, who hadn't known Jacqueline, was nonetheless upset, sad because the rest of us were. She put a tentative arm around Chris, and when he made no attempts to shrug her off, she held him gently, letting him know she was there.

"Where is Pyro, sir?" I asked. "How is he taking it?"

"He left with Magneto and Mystique an hour ago. I'm afraid he is feeling even worse than any of you are. His hatred of humans has been re-ignited."

Chris shook his head slowly, "I just can't believe it, sir. We were on our way home. There was no way she should have been killed."

"What happened to Lutowski?" Fliss asked.

Xavier said, "Pyro killed him."

"And Van Gaarde?"

"He has been sent to prison for life. You may not have been told yet, but our mission uncovered several military research projects involving highly illegal biochemical substances. The government has naturally denied all knowledge; they're using Van Gaarde as a scapegoat, saying the projects were his own private schemes. He'll never be able to trouble us again."

None of us said anything, too locked up in our thoughts about Jacqueline. I couldn't believe she was gone. She had only just come back into our lives; she couldn't possibly be gone. She was one of the few true friends I had ever had, one of the few people I had ever been close to. She'd had her troubles – mental problems, being disowned by her parents – and been irreversibly changed because of them. Her life had always been shaped by others; she'd never had the freedom to live the way she wanted. 

She and I were not that different. Both of us had had our lives permanently altered by the actions of our parents. Both of us had become something we were never meant to be. As mutants, both of us had suffered hatred and prejudice from an early age. Both of us had felt the temptation to unleash our powers in revenge attacks against those who reviled us. Both of us had resisted. Jacqueline had sacrificed her sanity and her freedom when she had absorbed Mindstorm's consciousness. If she hadn't done that…if things had turned out differently…maybe she would still be alive…

__

No greater love has any man, except that he lay down his life for his friends.

Both of us had killed our parents. Jacqueline, as Psyche, had murdered hers in revenge for disowning her. I had killed my father to stop him doing to anybody else what he had done to me. My mother had died giving birth to me, so effectively I had killed her too. Both of us were orphans, orphans of the world, a world which hated us and all other mutants. However, I had found a new family: Chloe, who would be my wife; Chris, who was like a brother to me; Felicity, who was something like a cousin; the Professor, who was like a father figure to all of us; even Magneto – a bond of sorts had grown between the two of us. I couldn't explain exactly what it was, but I knew we were abstrusely linked in some way. He knew I had made my choice, and wasn't going to join him, but somehow I could sense that wasn't the end of it. I knew we would meet again.

"I know this isn't easy for any of you," the Professor was saying. "There are no words of mine that will heal the pain you are all feeling. But I will say this: do not dwell on the fact she is gone. It is only right that you mourn her passing, but instead concentrate on celebrating the good things she did in her life, and how she made a difference to each of yours. I wish I could tell you that the pain of loss will go away, but it won't. It's something you will have to cope with, and I know each of you will cope. I know that together you are strong and will help each other."

Chris looked up to meet his eyes, and nodded once, "Thanks, Professor."

There was nothing more to say, and each of us turned towards the door. Chris and Felicity walked out, and Chloe followed them. I was the last, and at the door I stopped, looked round and said, "Professor? Can I ask you something else?"

"Of course."

I walked back to stand in front of the desk, "I don't quite know how to say it, sir. I was talking to Magneto, and he said…he said I could become the most powerful mutant in the world. He said I was going to be a supreme being. In five or ten years, he said."

"I see."

"Is that true?"

For a moment, Xavier said nothing. Then he inclined his head in a nod, "Yes. I told you that after your father implanted your mutations, he tried to kill you. He saw how powerful you could become, and he feared you. He decided not to take any chances, that the safest option was to kill you while you were still a baby."

"You stopped him."

"Yes. I too foresaw just how strong you could be. I knew that when you became an adult, your power would have grown so immense that no other mutant could compare. I knew that if you misused your power, nobody, not even myself, would be able to stop you. I decided to take the risk. I sent you to live with your grandparents, and I have kept a close eye on you during the last seventeen years. Until I met you two months ago, I had often wondered if I had done the right thing, by risking the safety of the world on my hope that you would not be led into darkness."

"Magneto also said – don't be angry, sir, but he said that you'd been hiding the true level of my power from me, because…because you didn't want me to get arrogant and stop listening to your instructions. I was reading his mind at the time, Professor, so I know he wasn't lying."

Xavier sighed, "There is some truth in what he said. I have seen far too many people over the years, both humans and mutants, who have grossly misused the gifts they have been born with."

"I wasn't born with my gifts, sir."

"But the reasoning still applies. I am sorry if you feel you have been deceived, and I regret that I had to hide the full truth from you. But you must understand that I have a responsibility too. I took the risk that you would not grow up to destroy the freedom of the world, and I had to ensure that you did not."

"I think I understand, sir. I don't want to be all-powerful. I mean, I could do a lot of good with it, but like Magneto said, power corrupts. Eventually I'd stop using it for good, and start using it to my own advantage. With nobody there to keep me in check, to act as a moral compass and guide me, I'd lose my way."

"When you are older, you will be able to guide yourself. You will become the most powerful of all mutants, there is no question about that. There is no other quite like you."

Then he looked me in the eyes, and said slowly, "Actually, that isn't quite true. There is one."

"Who?"

"Somebody Magneto does not yet know about. I will tell you, but not today. You have too much on your mind."

"Yes, I do."

"I made the right decision, Neil, when I took the risk with you. I know that now."

"Thank you, sir."

I left the office, closing the door behind me, and leaned against the wall for a moment, letting it all sink in. It was all true. Everything Magneto had said. How many more secrets were buried in my past? When I was 12 years old, I had discovered I was a mutant. When I was 16, I had learned the truth about myself, my father's experimentation, and how I had become what I was. Now, at 17, I found out that I was destined to become the greatest of all mutants, peerless, with no equals…except one.

That was my future. My past had been controlled by others, all of them seeking to affect my future. My future was my own now. It was what I made it. If the Professor and Magneto were right, the day would soon come when nobody but me could decide the course of my life. I already knew parts of my future. Chloe was part of it. Her love was what had kept me going over the last two months, but now I had something more to live for: the knowledge that no evil could undo the good I used my powers to accomplish.

I sought out Chloe. I looked in the direction of our room, and pushed my eyes through the walls until I could see inside it. Chloe was not there, but Chris and Felicity were. They had their arms wrapped around each other, and were kissing passionately. I sensed both of them feeling the loss of Jacqueline, and clinging on to each other as a way of comfort, holding on to what they still had. I knew that Chloe and I would do the same as soon as we were alone together. Jacqueline was gone, and there was an empty space in our hearts where she had been. We needed to fill that gap, and only by increasing our love for each other could we do it.

As Chris and Fliss, still locked in embrace, sank down on to one of the beds, I felt a small smile spread across my face, and I pulled back my eyes, bringing my vision back to what was directly in front of me. Some things were not meant for me to see.


End file.
